Everyone deserves to live...

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2014)

This is my second favorite of film the year, so far. It's a story based on true events about a man who is born free and then through horrible circumstances is sold into slavery and for 12 years must makes the decision to survive the cards that he has been dealt. The film is told through the eyes and voice of Solomon Northup.
Solomon Norhtup ( Chiwetel Ejiofor) is born in New York City in 1800's as a free man. He is a skilled musician and craftsman who meets two seemingly nice gentlemen who offer him a job playing his fiddle for a two week engagement in Washington D.C. Solomon accepts their offer and embarks on a journey that will forever change his life. After playing he spends an evening with both gentlemen and has a little too much to drink and can't really remember what happens after that. He soon wakes with the very confusing reality of being chained to a dirty concrete floor when two men walk in and accuse him of being a "run away" from Georgia. Solomon professes that he is a free man and his name is Solomon Northup, but they believe him to be Platt, a slave.
Solomon soon finds himself aboard a boat bound for New Orleans in the dead of night. After being beaten several times for his "lack of respect" he is soon sold to a plantation owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). We believe Master Ford to be a kind gentleman who soon takes a liking to Solomon and gives him a fiddle. However, Master Ford's plantation manager John Tibeats does not feel the same way.Tibeats and Solomon have a huge fight and Solomon ends up beating Tibeats. Seeking retribution, Tibeats and his friends attempt to hang Solomon. When he is left there for hours until Master Ford can return and cut him down, he tried to plead his case that he is a free man. Knowing that Solomon is not safe at the plantation anymore, Ford transfers the debt and ownership of Solomon to Edwin Epps.
Epps (Michael Fassbender) believes that it is his right to do whatever he chooses to his "property" - his plantation, his cotton fields, and his slaves. He beats them, whips them, verbally abuses them, and humiliates them more times than you can count. Epps takes a liking to Patsey ( Lupita Nyong'o ) who is extremely hard working, picking 500 pounds of cotton every day - more than any man. Epps especially likes her late at night when he gets drunk and proceeds to rape Patsey. His wife Mistress Epps (Sarah Paulson) does not take to kindly to this either. Mistress Epps views herself as higher bred than anyone around and has a distinct hate for Patsey, whom she abuses by throwing glass bottles and cutting her face. When Patsey takes an unapproved trip to get soap to wash with from Mistress Epps she suffers a lashing so brutal it is extremely hard to watch on screen.
Solomon begins to build a gazebo with a Canadian laborer named Bass (Brad Pitt) who believes everything is wrong with slavery. Bass gives a rather compelling argument that slaves are not property that they are people, God's people, and there will be a reckoning and price to pay when actions must be accounted for. When Solomon finds himself alone he is convinced by Bass to tell his story. Solomon makes one last effort to ask for help to write back to the north and ask for someone that can verify that he is indeed a free man. Bass tells Solomon the he is fearful of the consequences if he writes this letter, but also knows that it is his duty to do what he can.
To see how Solomon's story turns out you'll have to go see the film. I encourage you to do so while it's still in theaters. The performances are amazing. Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor deliver in every respect and the rest of the cast is truly brilliant. It is an epically heartbreaking story of ones man's journey and courage to not just survive, but in fact to live.