Old Age Day by Day November 11, 2013

Yesterday my daughter and I saw "Twelve Years a Slave".  It is even more amazing than I expected.  First of all, the cinematography is beautiful and so unusual.  Secondly, though there are many harsh moments, these are intraspursed with many quiet moments, and the pace is slow and deliberate.  This is NOT an action movie.  The actors performances are superb, and the attempt is more to render the feeling state of Solomon Northrup, rather than any preachiness.  The film reminds me of "Beasts of the Southern Wild", more coherent and crafted, but telling a similar tale of people and situations painful past bearing.  This is the antidote to "Gone With the Wind", where the slave owners are noble and the slaves like family members.  This film tells us what freedom is and what the lack of it does to a person.  The violence, when it's shown, is not glamorized or fetishsized.  Mostly, you can close your eyes because you know what is coming, but it's not the few moments of violence that disturb, it's the waiting, anticipation, constant dread.  The slave owners are sanctimonious and terrifying in their actions.  It's as if their dark side has been allowed dominance through the act of buying another human being.  Thus, the viewer begins to think about the nature of a human being and the cost of harming another to the soul of the perpetrator.  And thoughts of "good" slaveowners seem ludicrous.  There are choices in this movie, and we are made to feel them.  See it.  Then talk about it with others.