Genre: Drama/Historical
Director: Steve McQueen
Writer: Mo Buck
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Irons, Christoph Waltz, Donald Glover, David Oyelowo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Tyler James Williams, Stephen Root, Jim Caviezel, Matt Dillon
Plot: It’s 1842 and Marcus (Daniel Kaluuya) just entered his fifth year of slavery. His father was a slave, his mother was a slave, all his grandparents were slaves and his pretty that their parents were also slaves. He’s only wearing his underwear. Several other slaves are behind him, tapping him on the shoulder, encouraging him. On the other side of the room is Ben (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), an aging slave who has nearly nothing left to offer to his master. He has his own crew of men behind him, cheering. Two white foreign men are sitting just a little bit further. George Fellowes (Jeremy Irons) and Wilhelm Mayer (Christoph Waltz) discuss of a bet they just placed. The place is tended by a local cowboy, Jerry Sims (Stephen Root). He collects the bets and locks them in a safe. He grabs his pistol and he shoots in the air. Marcus jumps on Ben. More agile and vigorous, Marcus destroys Ben in a brutal fist fight and he starts chocking him. Ben’s owner, Fellowes, throws in the towel, signaling the end of the fight. He congratulates Mayer who collects his earnings from Sims. They carry away a bloodied Ben as Marcus is awarded with a young black girl for his victory. They enter a room and it cuts to black.
In 1835, an immigrant named Wilhelm Mayer (Christoph Waltz) arrived in America and set his sight to the Southern United States, where he wants to make a fortune. He inherited his father’s fortune and he spent almost all of it planning his new life overseas. He bought a large field on which he bought people to build a mansion for him, cheap labor as he calls them. We’re now in 1841, Mayer is sitting in his office, enjoying a cup of tea, when one of his slave brings him a letter he just received. It’s from a local man, well known all over Mississippi, who wants to show him something about the local culture that Mayer doesn’t seem to have caught up with yet. He also orders him to bring his two best slaves with him. He doesn’t understand why, but he gets down in the fields and grabs two of his best workers, Marcus (Daniel Kaluuya) and the young Andre (Tyler James Willliams) who he just bought last month.
Jerry Sims is the host of a party at his ranch in rural Mississippi. As always, people are piling up in the unutilized barn. Sims is right up front of everyone and he orders them to make room for Mayer to come up with Marcus and Andre. He welcomes Mayer to the community and tells him to enjoy the show. He introduces him to George Fellowes (Jeremy Irons), a rich British immigrant and former bare-knuckle boxing champion who made fortune in the trade market. He tells Mayer that as a welcoming gift, he will give to him the winner of the next bout. A confused Mayer looks in front and two black men are brought forward. They’re presented as Fellowes’ men.
Up first is Sam (David Oyelowo), followed by Ben (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). They’re separated by Sims and as soon as he gets out of the way, the two men jump at each other’s throat. Sam cuts Ben under the eye following a stiff right hand and blood starts to pour to the total delight of the numerous people watching and even enjoying the fight. Ben gets the upper hand and tries to choke Sam, but the latter hits him in the nuts with his foot numerous time. Ben breaks the hold to catch his breath as Sam climbs over him and unloads with right hands right on the button. Fellowes throws in the towel on Ben’s behalf and Sam is declared the winner. The crowd boos and Mayer still doesn’t understand. Jerry Sims controls the angry crowd as Sam is presented to Mayer, his new owner. Fellowes tells Mayer that they’re putting slaves in fights for their enjoyment. The crowd booed because sometimes, they fight until one of them dies. Fellowes didn’t let it happen this time, however. Sims cleans up the blood and asks Mayer to bring up the two slaves he brought with him. He shows the crowd Marcus and Andre. Sims presents them to the crowd as brand new fighters as the crowd cheers. Sims says he sees something special about Marcus. Both of them look frightened about what the future holds for them.
When Mayer comes back to his domain with Marcus, Andre and the newly acquired Sam, all the slaves ask them what happened at Sims’s ranch. They describe what they saw and what’s coming for them in a mix of fear and horror in their tone. Sam, still beaten up by his fight just a couple of hours ago, proceeds the describe the entire organization to the slaves, with Marcus and Andre being particularly interested in what he has to say. He says the rich old white man are doing this for their own pleasures, as if they were some objects you can just throw in the trash, never to be heard of again. He says what they’re doing is illegal, even in the south and some law officer once tried to make them stop, but he disappeared not long after. Just as he was done with his explication, Mayer emerges from the darkness and thanks him for teaching him what the organization was like. Mayer says he made a lot of money because of him today and since he seems to know a lot about the “business”, he will be in charge of training Marcus and Andre. He warns him to take good care of Marcus, as Jerry saw something in him and he could be his moneymaker.
Back at the Fellowes estate, the ambience is totally different. He’s been in the mandingo fighting business for as long as he’s been on the continent and he trains his fighters himself. George also has the bad habit of buying weak slaves to give them to his fighters as punching bags. The current Southern Mississippi Mandingo fighting champion is William (Anthony Mackie). He’s currently beating up two skinny males, one barely over 18. As he beats them, he gives fighting tips to his protégé, Tom (Donald Glover). Fellowes interrupts them and he introduces them to a badly beaten Ben. He orders William to set aside his own training to teach Ben how to be better, and in record time. He has a match scheduled for Ben and he must win this time. A disgruntled William accepts, really he has no other choice, he’s treated like a king around here, and besides, he must listen to his master, he’s just a slave after all. We see a montage of both “teams” preparing for the next event and a lot of blood is spilled.
We are back in Jerry Sims’ barn and everyone is gathering to see another action-packed evening. Jerry is busy collecting everyone’s bets, as George Fellowes and Wilhelm Mayer discuss about their fighters. George doesn’t miss the chance to sell Ben as a brand new fighter that Mayer’s Marcus won’t be able to touch. Fellowes says that he put a lot of money in this fight and Mayer might regret entering the mandingo business. The camera pans on two men, who look quite evidently out of place, Stephen Dodson (Matt Dillon) and Gerald Harrison (Jim Caviezel), two northerners. They aren’t welcomed in Sims’ barn and the small crowd gathered around the fighting area look at them strangely. We see Ben on one side of the room, with his fighting crew with him. Marcus is on the other side, with his own training crew and he looks focused. Ben doesn’t look like the brand new fighter Fellowes previously hyped. Just before Sims locks the bets in his safe, his eyes lay upon the two new faces in the crowd, Dodson and Harrison. He announces to the crowd that they have Northerners with them tonight and two large men take them away. The fight starts between Marcus and Ben after Sims fires in the air with his gun. We already saw the fight between the two men and Marcus still comes out on top.
After Marcus enters the room with the woman, the camera pans on the two owners and Mayer counting his money. We see the two Northerners, outside, sitting on tree stumps. They are watched by two big, but simple-minded individuals. Harrison and Dodson are revealed to be cops. They’re able to distract the big men and they make their way around the barn, finding a hole in the wall to watch the action. They don’t see anything, except Sims cleaning the blood on the floor and Mayer counting his money. As they are assessing what they’re witnessing, Jerry Sims starts to accept the bets for another fight, just agreed by the two owners, between the young Andre on Mayer’s side and the accomplished Tom, on Fellowes’ side.
There’s always a special ambiance in the fighters’ room, but it’s even weirder than before, since Mayer entered the business. Fellowes’ men were usually fighting each other and sometimes men from other owners, but they always quit after being destroyed by the overwhelming power of Fellowes’ squad of fighters. They all face-off in and they mind their own business on the opposite sides of the room. Fellowes’ group is more experienced in prepping the fighters, which triggers a chain reaction on Mayer’s side to copycat their every move and soon, they all do the same thing, but with a little delay. When Jerry Sims comes in to announce the fight to the fighters, Tom gets a quick look at Andre and quickly denies to fight, stating that he will easily destroy him and it’s not safe for him out there. He says he will always do what pleases his master, but he won’t kill a man who doesn’t stand a chance. Sims races back to the main room and whispers something in Fellowes’ ear. They quickly leave for the fighters’ room together. Harrison and Dodson decide to enter the building once again and to try to learn what’s really happening in there. There’s a rumor that they are staging death matches between slaves up north and they sent them to stop the practice, if real. After Fellowes left, the mood in the building slightly changed, allowing them to re-enter without any problem.
Fellowes burst into the fighters’ room and he comes face to face with a defiant Tom. George reminds his slave that he’s a slave indeed and he must do everything he wants him to do and right now, that includes fighting Andre. Tom begs him to look at the little guy, all scared with no fighting experience. Fellowes asks him for one more time if he wants to fight him or not and Tom answers that he will fight anyone, right here, right now, anyone but Andre. Fellowes reminds him that he asked for it. He orders his two other fighters, William, the champion and Ben, the fallen fighter, to restrain anyone who tries to interfere. Out of nowhere, he lands a hard punch straight on Tom’s jaw. The two of them start fighting and Fellowes, a former bare knuckle boxing champion, is able to come out on top with his surprising power, to the surprise of everyone. A climate of fear now reigns supreme in the room and a scared Andre is confronted by Fellowes. He says that he may have avoided the fight against Tom, but now he will face William. As Fellowes is heading out, Mayer just came in and sees everyone with a depressed look on their face. He’s pushed out of the door by Fellowes. As Andre is leaving the room with ol’ Ben by his side, he catches a glimpse at Tom, he’s dead.
Harrison and Dodson aren’t the most competent detectives and with everything going down tonight, they still have no clue of what’s really happening in Jerry Sims’ barn. They’re able to sneak backstage and they knock on a random door. Marcus opens the door and they beg him to let them in. Despite being completely naked, he lets them in, after all, he was always told to do what the white people say, whether they’re your owner or not. He lets them in the room and he does little to no effort to hide himself. The same can be said about the woman he was having a great time with. It makes Harrison and Dodson feel a little uncomfortable, but they’re able to maintain their professionalism. They ask Marcus what is going on here tonight and he says he doesn’t really know. At the same time, William, the champion is starting his fight against the fragile and green Andre. Marcus tells the two men, who confess that they’re police officers from the North, that when he’s out there, he doesn’t simply fight to please the master, he also fights for his life. He says that when you’re out there, with these crazy folks screaming at you and calling you names because they bet against you, you can feel your life hanging by a thread. Harrison and Dodson start to understand that the white people here are pitting black people against each others in death matches for their own enjoyment and to try to make money. William is literally destroying Andre, who doesn’t know how to defend himself appropriately. Seeing this, Wilhelm Mayer decides to throw in the white flag, signaling the defeat of Andre, but Fellowes orders William to continue to squeeze Andre’s throat as hard as he can. The crowd starts to get agitated because of the unusual situation.
All the noise just outside made all the fighters come out of the fighter’s room and Marcus put on his underwear and left the room with Harrison and Dodson, only to see Andre with his eyes almost popping out due to the immense pressure applied on his throat by William. Marcus runs and tackles William and the two of them start fighting. Jerry Sims tries to calm down the crowd and to take a couple of bets while the two men are fighting. Harrison arrests Sims on the spot and Dodson takes care of Fellowes. The crowd is extremely unhappy with this and they start to wreck havok in the barn. At one point, a man knocks down a lamp and some hay catches on fire. The fire is slowly spreading in the barn and the crowd starts evacuating. The fighters run free, running away from their master, finally free. Marcus continues to fight William in the flames, next to the dead corpse of Andre, he wants to avenge the death of his friend. Nobody knows what happened with Mayer, nobody knows where he went. George Fellowes starts punching the police officers and he’s able to break free. The fire is now everywhere and the two men are still fighting. Fellowes has no chance but to run for his life. He’s saddened that he’ll abandoned the best fighter he ever had. He jumps through a window and runs away. Marcus gets the upper hand on William and he starts chocking him the same way he choked Andre. William shows fear in his eyes for the first time in a very long time, but not because he’s about to lose the fight, because he knows he’ll die, as he sees the roof collapsing and falling down, straight on Marcus’ head. He tries to run away, but as he sees the burning bodies of both the police officers and Marcus, he trips on something. He’s unable to get up, exhausted. His pants catch on fire and he starts screaming. The camera is now outside, as the barn is completely disintegrated. Fellowes sits outside, relieved that he was, once again, able to escape an inevitable arrest. Inside, everyone is dead, including a Wilhelm Mayer, who tried to escape, but was killed when people knocked over a ball of hay on him and he caught fire.
Three years later, Fellowes enters a building with a crowd of people already inside. He’s followed by a couple of muscular black men. He officially signs his men up for competition and he places a bet on the next fight.
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