Martyrdom. Compulsion. Slavery. Through excellent visual choices and superb acting, Steve McQueen's films handcuff audiences to the plights of their characters and refuse to provide any opportunity for escape. While we (hopefully) previously understood these tragic concepts in sympathetic terms, McQueen's films force us to confront them in a more direct manner and recognize their alienating effects.
12 Years a Slave treats history as it actually happens - suddenly and without convenient narrative structure. While Solomon Northup's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) experiences provides a frame through which to view slavery and the 1850s, his encounters with others are refreshingly random. He meets other enslaved men (played by Chris Chalk and Michael K. Williams) who are swept out of his life just as easily as they enter it. Once enslaved, he's tossed between different slave owners, leaving us with no idea where the film will take us next. In fact, considering how quickly characters seem to appear and disappear in this setting, it wouldn't be all that surprising if Solomon himself were killed (though, yes, context clues clearly inform us that Solomon will last at least 12 years). The series of events that make up the film drive home Solomon's complete lack of agency within slavery-era America and the twisting, coincidental nature of history. This choice both subverts the usual period piece tropes of characters' fates being telegraphed and adds to our understanding of Solomon as a victim of history.