Twelve Years A Slave (2014)

What's it about? Solomon Northup is a free man, living in the state of New York and making a living for himself, his wife and their two children as a violinist. He is invited by two travelling circusmen to joint them on a tour of Washington, at the end of which is drugged, imprisoned and sold into slavery in the South. His initial indignation at his plight and his refusal to "play the part" of a compliant slave, eventually begins to give way as he realises that although mere survival feels wholly unsatisfactory, it may be preferable to the only other alternative.

What is it like? Slavery in the US has been handled on the big screen before, but rarely very well. Important literary works like Uncle Tom's Cabin have been adapted but often ineffectively and so it was unclear how Northup's hugely important memoir was going to fare, especially in the hands of a British director, working on only his third full length feature. All such concerns can be fully and emphatically set aside. As almost unwatchable as Twelve Years a Slave might be in places, it is a hugely important, utterly effective and devastatingly impactful film that deserves its "instant classic" tag like few other films in recent memory. Scenes of lynching, whipping and rape are of course harrowing but they are not dwelt upon gratuitously - on the contrary, these moments are presented starkly, bleakly and truthfully. At times, horrendous events unfold on screen as other slaves dutifully go about their duties elsewhere within the shot - so commonplace are such events for them that they almost disregard them, yet we are devastated by them at the same time. It is a tonal tightrope that, like Spielberg's Schindler's List, is exceedingly difficult to walk. Too much bleak miserablism and your audience switches off, denying them an essential history lesson. Too little truth and reality and you tell a lie and dishonour those who suffered (and continue to do so).

Chiwetel Ejiofor is utterly compelling as Northup, dignified, resilient, steadfast, righteous, broken. So much of the story and his experiences is conveyed with a look, a glance, a moment - it is a phenomenal piece of work and rightly lauded and lavished with awards earlier this year. Tears are likely to come at various intervals and the more monstrous characters will cause rage to rise within us as well - the inhumanity and injustice of what was meted out for centuries continues to be a wound that won't heal. The climax to the film is necessarily cathartic, but the abiding sense of loss, that something has been taken that cannot be restored, is what remains with us. Heart-breaking but essential.

Should I see it? If at all possible, yes. The film's (UK) classification of 15 is probably right, given the levels of violence, abuse and swearing depicted on screen, but unlike other films with that classification where the violence is played for laughs and the swearing likewise, Twelve Years a Slave is devastating. Many will feel that they would rather not sit through something so traumatic and that is an understandable viewpoint. Similarly, younger teenagers might benefit from the history lesson but caution should be taken in exposing them to something as grown up as this. It is not a film for the faint-hearted, but it has so much to commend it. Hope and despair, humanity and inhumanity, hatred and injustice and a scar on the conscience of an entire country. Monumental.