American Women's Club of Hamburg Currents Magazine January 2014 | Page 37

AR TS & ENTER TAINMENT
he unexpectedly meets a Canadian abolitionist that made it so strong. Without their humanism,
(Brad Pitt) who would change his life forever.
Fassbender’s performance would fall flat. His
performance is entirely dependent on the abilities
of Ejiofor and Nyong’o to make you care. This
multidimensionality of the story and of its
characters is what makes 12 Years a Slave a truly
powerful film. Without this strength, the film
would have struggled under the weight of the
subject matter, but the characters drive the viewer
to continue watching, even as sickening events
unfold.
There is no doubt about it; this film is difficult
and terrible to watch. However, like Schindler’s
List (1993) and The Killing Fields (1984) before it,
12 Years a Slave is groundbreaking, amazingly well- there is an importance to putting such stories into
acted, shockingly brutal, and should have been the medium of film. It makes it so the story can
made years v