I loved 12 Years a Slave from purely the angle of seeing it as a supreme piece of art, but it’s far from your normal piece of entertainment. It’s a tough watch. I can’t remember the last time I felt the need to avert my eyes from the screen, but not only will you want to close your eyes, you may want to plug your ears once the noose is tied and the lashings begin.
It’s for these reasons I can’t help but look at the marketing for the film so far and wonder just how unsuspecting audience members will react to what they see. This trailer rages to a beat that suggests it’s a revenge thriller more than an agonizing look at the twelve years of torment a free man was forced to face and the atrocities that surrounded him and others.
Here’s a snippet from my review to let you know what you’re in for:
[W]hat must absolutely be mentioned and reiterated is the absolute horror this movie is to watch. A scene involving a hanging leaves a man dangling, with only the tips of his toes negotiating the muddy ground below serving as the difference between life and possible death. Choking and gasping for air, the soft squish of the wet mud is like needles in your ears. McQueen and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt first focus on his feet, then move to a wide shot as fellow slaves in the background get back to work, leaving the man to hang, afraid to interfere. A couple white people stare from the plantation windows and porch, the whole time the wet squish beneath the man’s feet continues as he chokes for a sliver of air. The scene goes on, and on, and on.
Similarly, a scene where another character is whipped, the flesh ripped from their skin into bloody tendrils, is one I had to close my eyes during. Yet, the sound of leather on flesh remained. I stopped counting at 35 lashes before it ended, I maybe saw ten of them with my own eyes, but couldn’t avoid the sound of the other 25.
Give this new trailer a watch and let me know if you get any indication of that from these 49 seconds.
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