12 YEARS A SLAVE

Won the Oscars. OK, I didn't watch the "ceremony", but I got to see the end and, besides, I don't live in a cave in the Pyrenees, so I know it won. And good for the movie and everybody who worked in it. The LA Times ran a story today basically saying that 12 YAS won as a result of a sort of historical recognition by Hollywood of the slavery era and its evil; yes, the movie is good, but many Academy voters didn't watch it and still voted for it to "go with the social flow" is the Times basic argument. It may be. What's intriguing for me is the reason people in the Academy don't want to watch it. They argue it's an "upsetting" theme, as if Hollywood had never touched on "upsetting" issues: Hitler, Nazism, Holocaust, Native Americans' genocide, Injustice, Natural Disastry, End of Worldism and many more. To me it is strange there is so much reluctance to see "12 Years". Is it collective guilt? Is it individual/family guilt? Is it some kind of moral prudishness? Is it some type of "oppression-claim protectionism" (as some people in the Hollywood Jewish community, for example, unconsciously wanting to "protect" the memory and unique legacy of the Holocaust as the premiere example of racially based evil?) Maybe it's something else, I don't know.

Personally, I couldn't wait to see it when it came out, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, it's tough to watch at times, but not necessarily more than Schindler's List or other movies portraying deep personal or social injustice, violence or drama (take Zero Dark Thirty, for example). There are singular aspects to 12YAS that make it stand out (i.e.the painful torture scenes, the everydayness of submission and soul deprivation, powerfully brought out by the cast and director). That said, I am glad Hollywood recognized this film. I am not a big fan of political correctness, but the movie leaves a mark and it is very well made and acted. In addition to that, the fact that it attacks slavery in the US at its core visually, philosophically and ethically is commendable and makes it worthy of the award. Not that others didn't deserve it as well but the Oscars are heavily political–whether you want it or not–and this time politics fell in favor of the oft-forgotten. Right on here.