With the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s march on Washington having just passed, and with the historically deplorable Columbus Day holiday upcoming, we can’t be reminded enough of the history of humanity’s tyranny over one another. Sobering and immensely difficult to watch, British director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, is to date the most unyielding film depiction of slavery in America ever released. With raw and heart wrenching performances from it’s cast, and a brutally honest artistic perspective from it’s director, this film deserves serious attention and veneration.

Based on the book published in 1853, 12 Years a Slave is the true story of Solomon Northup, a free African-American living in New York in 1841, who was torn from his life of freedom to that of slavery. Once a man of distinction and known for his musical talents, Northup is duped into taking a job with two men who drug him and sell him into slavery. Given the new identity of “Platt Hamilton” and forced to recognize himself as a runaway slave from Georgia, he was sold to and owned by several plantation owners in the Louisiana bayous. Unsure of whether he would ever see his wife and children back in New York, Northup is faced with the greatest obstacle any man can face: the revocation of his humanity and freedom.

Just as a slave in those days had no respite from the daily injustices they were subjected to, the film offers very little rest from the non-stop emotional and physical devastation of slavery. Indeed, in the way that Northup is thrown into and introduced to the severity of what it was to be a slave, so are we the audience forced into an uncomfortable understanding of what it would be to have all ones privileges and family stripped from them. Northup’s position as a free man is identifiable to us, and therefore his harrowing journey is all the more provoking. Through every hanging, every lashing, each panic-inducing escape attempt, McQueen uses the camera to show more than we’ve ever seen before and for longer than we’ve ever seen it. But aside from the physical barbarity we’re forced to witness, it’s the assassination of the soul that is hardest to watch.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) IS Solomon Northup. Each wide-eyed look of disbelief when Northup encounters new injustices, and his eloquent speaking patterns, as a man both educated and wise, shows a complete immersion into the role. Michael Fassbender (an actor I often find myself not recognizing immediately in films because he seems so utterly different in every role he plays) epitomizes the very worst of men to emerge from white dominance in the slave-fueled South. As Solomon/Platt’s master, Edwin Epps oversees his slaves with a sort of controlled insanity that can only come from the drunkenness of entitled power. Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, and Brad Pitt also give pivotal and fantastic performances. Though, side note, it’s honestly unsettling how well Paul Dano seems to be at playing despicable people. The face to watch from 12 Years a Slave, however, is that of Lupita Nyong’o. This newcomer plays fellow slave Patsey, a woman subjected to the living hell of being the Master’s favorite. Arguably having the hardest content of the entire film to perform, she is mesmerizing and her performance is truly affecting.

McQueen has made two other feature films, Shame (2011) and Hunger (2008), each about difficult topics. He’s made it clear he isn’t afraid to challenge his viewers with disturbing content, but with this film he’s found the best outlet for his talent. He shows a masterful control of the subject matter, never letting it overwhelm the artistic focus of the film, and pairing every heightened moment with well-designed sound editing and an unsettling musical score.

While Tarantino’s vengefully satisfying Django Unchained showed far more blood, gore, and savagery than 12 Years a Slave does, it’s ridiculousness made it laughable and thus far easier to take. McQueen’s film is not easy to take, and this is what makes it an absolute must-see; in fact even elicits a feeling of significance while viewing it. This film, and others like it, will always be necessary. Serving as a reminder of all we have, and all that can be denied from us. The moment we stop thinking about the past, at it’s most truthful, may be the moment we lapse into old ways of thinking. 12 Years a Slave has set the bar in honest historical filmmaking, as well as just how emotionally connecting a film can be.

12 Years a Slave trailer:

The best film I have seen all year so far, Beasts of the Southern Wild (read my review), just got a released date from Fox Home Entertainment. Beasts of the Southern Wild will be on Blu-ray and DVD on December 4th, 2012. Along with the release date they also provided the DVD cover and Special Feature details. Special Features that will be on the Blu-ray edition sound especially interesting as it will contain some of the auditions of the main characters, including the powerful performance from the young Quvenzhané Wallis.

Beasts of the Southern Wild Synopsis:

Teeming with magic, beauty and pure joy, this crowd-pleasing winner at the Sundance Film Festival has emerged as one of the year’s most acclaimed films. Newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis delivers an “Oscar®-worthy performance” (Philadelphia Daily News) as Hushpuppy, the six-year-old force of nature in an isolated bayou community. When her tough but loving father Wink (Dwight Henry) succumbs to a mysterious malady, the fierce and determined girl bravely sets out on a journey to the outside world. But Hushpuppy’s quest is hindered by a “busted” universe that melts the ice caps and unleashes an army of prehistoric beasts.

DVD & Blu-ray Special Features:
DVD:

• The Making of Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Theatrical Trailer
• Sneak Peek
• Stoker Theatrical Trailer
• The Blu-ray Experience
• Fox World Cinema
• The Sessions

Blu-ray Exclusive Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Benh Zeitlin
• Auditions
• Quvenzhané Wallis
• Dwight Henry
• Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry
• Glory at Sea
• Music
• The Aurochs

Specs:
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Blu-ray & DVD
Street Date: December 4, 2012
Prebook Date: November 7, 2012
Screen Format: 16:9 (1.85:1)
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD-MA / English 5.1 DD DVD
Spanish 5.1 DD / 2.0 Surround DD DVD
Other Language Audio Feature 5.1 DD
Subtitles: English & Spanish
U.S. Rating: PG-13
Total Run Time: 04:44:69 / 03:48:70 DVD
Closed Captioned: Yes

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a poetic fairy tale told through the point of view of a child’s imagination who has unflinching determination to find her place in the world. The film was very well received at it’s premier with the New York Times saying that it is the best film to come out of Sundance in twenty years. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance as well as the Camera d’Or at Cannes. I received chills when lines were spoken, teared up during emotional scenes and was engulfed in the universe that was created. It is the most imaginative and emotional film of the year.

Beasts of the Southern Wild opens with narration from a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who describes where she lives as the prettiest place on Earth – a place that locals call the Bathtub. Many of us would probably consider this isolated offshore New Orleans community a dump but the small community of residents hold on to it with relentless strength. Most would sacrifice everything they own to protect the land, which is what they will soon have to do.

Hushpuppy knows that she is special but at the same time she understands that she is just a small piece of a big universe. She believes that animals speak to her in code, although sometimes their messages are not all that important. Furthermore, she believes that everyone around her, including herself, is a wild animal. Her teacher reinforces this idea when giving her class a lesson on surviving in the wild that everything is meat, including themselves. This idea is shown when Hushpuppy visits a hospital and believes that it is a place where they plug sick animals into the wall.

It is hard to say that Hushpuppy lives with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry) as she lives in her own make-shift “house” that resides next to his. This may be due to the fact that there is no room for two people to live in the ramshackle. Perhaps it is because Hushpuppy likes to have the place filled with items that remind her of her mother, who Wink claims “swam away” one day. But the most probable reason is that Wink knows that he is not fit raise a child and this separation physically represents that.

Even though Wink may not be very fit to be a father he still preaches what he knows best, how to survive on your own. He does the best that he can do to show Hushpuppy how to self-sufficiently live off of the land. At first you assume that this is because it is the only way Wink knows how to live, which it is, but soon come to realize that his death approaching fast from his drinking habits. His questionable tough love tactics may prove to be effective training for Hushpuppy when he is no longer around to take care of her.

A huge storm is said to be rolling in as many of the residents scramble to get out of Mother Nature’s way. But Wink and some other hard-nosed refuse to leave the most important thing to them, the Bathtub. Their community is their own world and they have no interest in living on the other side of the levee. A place where people go to the grocery store to get their food instead of catching it yourself is a foreign place and lifestyle they wish not to visit.

Most of the adults that stayed behind woke up from their daily hangovers to discover that the Bathtub is completely flooded. This means Wink and Hushpuppy must travel with a truck bed converted boat in order to get around. The longevity of the Bathtub is uncertain as salt water killed much of the available food options but even worse than nature’s wrath is government authorities that are coming in to remove them from the official evacuation area.

It is impossible to tell that Beasts of the Southern Wild was the Benh Zeitlin’s first feature film. The editing, cinematography, storyline, dialog and music all complimented one another perfectly. With a relatively low budget of just over a million dollars, he is able to make childlike imaginations of extinct creatures come alive as well as introduces more serious issues such as political allegories. He handles theses difficult portrayals magnificently.

Throughout the film I kept trying to figure out what the extinct Aurochs creatures represented. At first I thought they may represent the government authorities coming after them to “take them away” from their land. Then I thought it represented how Hushpuppy viewed herself in the world, wild beasts of the south. But near the end it seems like they represented her fears that she eventually conquers. Maybe it was something completely different or a combination of them all but the director leaves the interpretation up to your imagination.

There are a series of great shots when Hushpuppy is picturing her mother from the story that Wink tells. The shot follows the mother at waist level, from the perspective of Hushpuppy, as she walks around the kitchen. Magical things happen when her mother was in the kitchen and so was the scene when Hushpuppy eventually sees her mother. To top it all off, it is ingeniously filmed at the same level.

Quvenzhané Wallis had never acted before her role as Hushpuppy, which makes her incredible performance even more astonishing. When she tried out for the role she was only five years old but stood out enough to where Zeitlin picked her among the 4,000 others that were considered for the role. It is easy to see why. She was mesmerizing on screen and her voice narrating the film was unforgettable.

At the time of this writing, there is no one else that comes close to her performance this year and I would be shocked if anyone does. Wallis should be the front-runner to take home an Oscar for Best Female Lead at this year’s Academy Awards. Also a Best Picture nomination seems to be obvious even though it is still quite early to make such statements. These accolades would all be huge wins for the young crew as it still has not received a wide release in theaters and history shows that summer films tend to be more forgotten by the Academy.

Speaking of awards, the film may make the Independent Spirit Awards rather uninteresting to watch as it has the potential to clean up many of the awards. Best Female Lead, Best Picture, Best First Feature, and Best Director I would have to think would be shoe-ins for Beasts of the Southern Wild. We will know for sure in about six months when the award season is in full force.

Beasts of the Southern Wild can be a hard film to describe to those who have not seen it, much like last year’s The Tree of Life. It is an ambitious film with philosophical views on how the universe works from the eyes of a brave young child. My anticipation for watching this film was instantly high upon watching the trailer for the first time. This is a dangerous yet hard to avoid game to play as a film reviewer as it often leads to disappointment. It is something special when a film can lift you off your feet even when you are expecting it to.

One word came to mind after watching the trailer for Beasts of the Southern Wild, ambitious. Alright I lied, there were two words, ambitious and wow. The film made a splash at Sundace this year when it won the dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award. 6-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis was widely considered the Sundance darling of 2012 and it is not hard to see why.

From first time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin comes a story about a young girl named Hushpuppy who is raised by her drunk and barely present father. She uses her imagination to see the beauty in their natural surroundings to find a way to survive. Beasts of the Southern Wild is in select theaters June 27th.

UPDATE: Our review of Beasts of the Southern Wild

Official trailer for Beasts of the Southern Wild: