I'll admit, I didn't expect to like this film. Steve McQueen's previous film, "Shame", was one of the worst I've sat through in years. It was ostensibly about sex addiction, but it seemed clear to me that the real point of it was for McQueen to inflict pain on his audience and to make them feel uncomfortable. I've seen "Hunger" subsequently, and dislike it also. His interest is not in realism, not in surrealism, but in sadism. When I heard that he was making a film about American slavery, I was pretty sure that it would be a tough watch, Mel Gibson-type stuff. And pretty sure that I wouldn't like it.
Do I like it? Yes and no. The screenplay is brilliant, particularly for the first 30 minutes or so. It brings the sickness of slavery up into your face, from different angles. If you want to see something that will viscerally affect you, this is your movie. I felt my head throbbing the first time that I watched it, real physical discomfort. The second time that I watched it, I was wincing rather than holding my head, and I was able to appreciate what a great job John Ridley did adapting this.
(It does slow down a bit after that first thirty minutes, as it sticks to Northop's book. This is a period piece, not popular entertainment).
The cinematography is extremely sharp, and beautiful. The performances are very good. Chiwetel Eijofor carries the movie well. Michael Fassbinder and Paul Dano are quite good in their roles as an owner and an overseer whose sicknesses and insecurities are inflicted upon the slaves. I tip my hat to those guys, and Paul Giamatti also, for throwing themselves into such horrible roles with gusto. If I had a Hollywood career going, I would have stayed ten miles away from playing any of their parts.
(Lupita N'yong'o is not so impressive; she won an Oscar for being whipped and crying in one scene. She may or may not be able to act; if she can, she didn't show it here).
My beef with this film is the director. McQueen was the wrong man to put this together. He does some of the material justice - his desire to throw horrible behavior into our faces mostly meshes with Ridley's script. But he inflicts the trappings of S&M onto the material. He fetishizes captivity and darkness. He overdoes Patsy's whipping. Worst of all, he gives us a standing-on-tiptoes-for-hours near-lynching scene so unrealistic that it takes the viewer out of the movie. I am sure that another director could have made a better movie here.
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