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Jîortlanh (Obstruer
November 6. 2013
‘12 years a Slave’
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m ents in the film involves a long, on the legacy o f the m any m ixed
hot afternoon in w hich N orthup children w ho em erged from slave
toll -- the challenge, for exam ple, hangs from a tree at the very brink households.
o f m aintaining any dignity or p er o f asphyxiation, while slave chil
It pro v id es a picture o f the
sonal p o w e r w hile living subject dren play in the background and slave trade as it w as really p rac
to the w him s and cap rices o f the plantation abides in pastoral ticed. It o ffers a couple o f potent
those w ho hold ultim ate p o w er quiet. You m ay find, as I did, that e x a m p le s o f h o w p la n ta tio n
o v er one's existence and define the film holds you in a state o f w ives participated in the o p p res
one as subhum an.
nauseous unease. As well it should. sion o f slaves, and provides an
M c Q u e e n 's f o c u s o n n e M cQ ueen know s how to take a array o f w indow s into a slave
glected stories also fits the story subject like this that is hard to look econom y, finally putting the lie to
o f A m erican slavery itself. T he at, and to give you a reason to look. the ro m an tic illusions about the
nu m b er and q uality o f film s e x Each fram e reflects a quality o f old South that H olly w o o d and,
plorin g H itler and the N azis is intention that m akes m ost H olly indeed, A m erican history have
practically encyclopedic in co m w ood fare seem flippant by com ped aled fo r generations.
parison to the relative p au city o f parison, and John Ridley's screen
T o w atch “ 12 Y ears a S lav e”
film s ad d ressin g slavery w ith play (again, unlike m ost H olly is to particip ate in a collective
even p erip h eral interest. If a n y w ood fare) resists any tem ptation d eep en in g o f co n scio u sn ess that
thing, A m erican film s reflect a to explain o r soften this challeng w e d esp erately need in order to
tenden cy to m inim ize this fo u n ing material. Ridley never relieves m ake sense o f o u r presen t cir
dational asp ect o f o u r history so you o f the obligation to grapple cu m stan ces. It is art that asks
pro n o u n ced that it rises to the with com plex truth.
so m eth in g o f the audience, fo r
level o f a co llectiv e ch aracter
M cQ u een uses lo n g er shots sure - but it rew ard s that atten
disorder.
than m o st film s use, to direct tion w ith im ages that w ill u n
M cQ u een 's film , then, rep re your attention to things one needs settle y o u in the w ay that only
sents an im p o rtan t corrective, to u n d erstan d in o rd er to absorb the b est art does.
h andled w ith subtlety and co u r the hu m an suffering in a difficult
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
age. It w ill gu id e you to a k in d o f story. It is a kind o f m in istry o f the Oregon Court o f Appeals
legitim ate suffering, requiring you p resen c e th at the su b ject d e
and the first woman o f color to
to not only o bserve m om ents o f serves fro m us but w hich few serve in that capacity. Her movie
d ev astatin g b ru tality b u t also to film m ak ers attem pt to evoke.
review column Opinionated
absorb how u n rem ark ab le such
T he film provides us w ith the Judge appears regularly in The
m o m e n ts w ere to slav es and m ean s to reflect, fo r exam ple, Portland Observer. You can find
th eir ow ners.
on w hat slav ery did to the souls her
movie
blog
at
O ne o f the m ore profound mo- o f ev en k in d ly slave ow ners, and opinionatedjudge. blogspot. com.
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 11
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flortiatth<0hsrnîer
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Recognizing kids
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Reception for new College Leader
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led PCC Voices of Soul Choir, a
student processional highlighting
the range o f PCC programs and ser
vices, poem reading by faculty
Michael McDowell, greetings by
college faculty, staff and students
as well as from the business and
education community, gifts presen
tations and Brown's presidential
address.
"It's a great honor to be here and
participate today, and welcome Dr.
Jeremy Brown to Portland and to the
leadership of this great educational
institution," Gov. Kitzhaber said.
"Having served in leadership roles
with major colleges and universities
on the East Coast, I think Dr. Brown
brings an impressive background
to his new role as president of Port
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Donovan M. Smith
years at Indiana University pursu
ing physics research, followed by a
faculty position in the physics de
partment at Princeton University.
During his address, Brown said
his father dropped out of school at
the age of 13 so that he could help
support his family financially and
his mother did not attend college
until she was nearly 40 years old.
But both parents emphasized and
recognized the value of education,
so that their children, Brown, his
brother and two sisters, would aim
high and excel academically.
"I've come farther than I could
have ever dreamed possible because
of the opportunities offered to me
through education," Brown con
cluded. "And I want those opportu
nities for as many future genera
tions of students as possible.’
47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. BivçJ., Portland, OR 97211
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Lucinda Baldwin
Leonard Latin
land Community College. He brings
a very strong appreciation of the
vital role that community colleges
play here."
Brown took the reins of Portland
Community College on July 1 after
the retirement of Preston Pulliams.
A native of M anchester, En
gland, Brown previously served as
president o f Dowling College on
Long Island and Edinboro Univer
sity in Pennsylvania, part of the
state's public university system. An
academic by training, Brown earned
both his bachelor of science degree
and his doctorate in physics from
the University of Birmingham, En
gland. His doctoral work in experi
mental nuclear physics was con
ducted at both the University of
Birmingham and the University of
California-Berkeley. He spent two
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