Two Films in Two Days- a Reflection

Last Thursday I saw 12 Years A Slave, and Friday I saw The Wolf of Wall Street. Both were something of an occasion; my cinema trip on Thursday was the first time I'd seen a film on my own, and Friday's marked my first 18 certificate, first Scorsese and first 3 hour movie in the cinema. Here are my thoughts on both.

12 Years A Slave

dir. Steve McQueen

I will be very clear: this film is important. As many people as possible should see it. The cynicism with which some cinematically misinformed fools dismiss this - some without even watching it, I might add - as 'just another slave movie' is both misplaced and despicable. I genuinely don't even understand that charge, there simply haven't been many mainstream movies made about or heavily featuring slavery. It is a difficult subject, and one that casts an often unwanted light on to America's less than honorable past, which must account in some part for this deficiency. But more simply, it is not 'just another movie' in any sense. Forgetting the social context, 12 Years A Slave is an extraordinary piece of work. Here's why.

This film seizes hold of your emotions and doesn't let go, even when it's over. Through the beauty of the dialogue, un-intrusive camera work , some of the best acting I've ever seen and obviously the story itself, I had an experience in the cinema I never have before. 

The story is that of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. The film shows his experiences as a slave, struggling against cruel masters, constant degradation and despair itself. Early on, he says two things that show he understands the situation he is in, even if he cannot comprehend it. Firstly, after being warned that to survive, he must keep his head down and not make trouble, until circumstances change, he declares 'I don't want to survive; I want to live'. Some time later, he finds himself in a similar situation, except this time the roles are changed and he finds himself saying 'I will survive. I will not fall into despair. I will keep myself hardy until freedom is opportune'. That last line seems to me to be the most important. He struggles throughout his 12 years to find the line between complete capitulation and dangerous defiance. His free life is still waiting for him, and he will return.

I won't go into plot description too deeply today, so I'll say only a little bit more. I truly feel that eventually, people will talk about this film as one of the greatest ever made. Watching it is such an intense experience; when the credits rolled, nobody moved in the cinema. I could hear everybody quietly crying as i sat there for a good 5 minutes trying to compose myself. Some of the scenes are genuinely difficult to watch, and others are hard to take your eyes away from. Throughout, the camera returns to simple close ups of Solomon's face, the horror and pain on his face truly heartbreaking. Perhaps the best shot of all is near the end, he stares off screen in despair , moving his gaze until he is looking only at the audience,as if beseeching their help. Then he looks elsewhere. If there was doubt before that Chiwetel Eijiofor's performance is anything less than astonishing, there is none after this moment.

My favourite scene is the extraordinary one in which Solomon and his fellow slaves are burying a fallen worker. They gather round the grave, and start to sing Roll, Jordan, Roll. Solomon seems to struggle internally with something, I won't try to guess what. But he seems to come to some kind of resolution, and sings with them, his passion burning on his face. Music plays an important part in this film, but none more so than in this scene.

Obviously, this movie invites comparisons with Django Unchained. The difference is that Django is a nasty, self-satisfied exploitation film; 12 Years  A Slave is art. 12 Years A Slave is magnificent. A vital, horrific, important and heartbreaking film. I could not recommend it highly enough.

The Wolf Of Wall Street

dir. Martin Scorsese

I love Scorsese. I love DiCaprio. My favourite collaboration of theirs is The Aviator , but I also love Gangs of New York, the Departed and Shutter Island. So it was with great disappointment that I find myself disliking their latest effort. 

Again, I will be quite clear. I have no qualms with a movie presenting a violent, misogynistic, racist, homophobic or any other such unpleasant world/characters on screen. But I do have a problem with spending three hours watching a horrible man doing horrible things in his horrible world and receive almost no comeuppance whatsoever.

And that is my issue with the film. I found it very very funny almost all throughout, but the more I think about it, the less I like it. Jordan Belfort- this is another true story, bear in mind - is a stockbroker who has figured out a way to make huge amounts of money very quickly by swindling people who can little afford it. He uses their money to live lavishly, extravagantly, despicably carefree. There are so many orgy and drug use scenes that I started to get very bored with it all.

The treatment of women is very bad too. As I said, I have no problem with a movie depicting a misogynist world, but when all the female characters are sex workers, eye candy or whiny, unpleasant wives then it feels like the movie is almost tacitly approving of it. This I don't like.

There are no specific scenes that ruin The Wolf Of Wall Street , it's just the tone and the length that made me dislike it so. It is funny, but ultimately there seems to be no point to it whatsoever. You don't like the protagonist, so there's no way in to the movie there. You're not as rich as he is, nor are most people stockbrokers, so there's no in there either. It's not even making a point about the excesses of the financial sector, because Jordan Belfort seems to get off scot free! If these weren't clear enough from the movie anyway, the real man himself actually has a cameo near the end. I found this bad taste indeed. It seems something of a companion piece to Goodfellas and perhaps also Casino , but this is nowhere near as good as those classics. The thing is, they had a point to them, a focus. This has none.

 While it may be funny, Leo may be great and you might slightly enjoy it at the time, this is not  a very good film, and certainly not up to the standards of Scorsese's best work.

  

Film Releases I Am Looking Forward To

Inside Llewyn Davis

dir. The Coen Brothers

Her

dir. Spike Jonze

Inherent Vice

dir. Paul Thomas Anderson