A harrowing, powerful film

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2014)

"12 Years a Slave" is harrowing, heart-breaking film, centered around the true, distressing story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man in America, who is sold into slavery. Northup is an honourable, intelligent family man, living in New York State in 1841. Well-renowned for his musical skills, he is kidnapped by two men. They drug him and he is then sent on a boat to the American South, wherein slavery is legal and these kidnappings were apparently common. Northup is sold though this black market slave trade and is given a new Name "Platt". He is sold first to plantation owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), who seems relatively benevolent despite his status as a slave owner. He is later sold to another slave owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
The film is brutally blunt with its portrayal of slavery. It is difficult to grasp in modern society that these were people sold and traded like objects or animals, and this film takes absolutely no compromises in its portrayal of the horrific nature of slavery. A fine example of this is the scene in which Northup is lynched. While it is certainly shocking to see a man being almost killed by these white men, the background of this scene is what stood out for me. While the man is being tortured, children are playing, men are at work: This kind of torture is normal for them to see. That in itself, is what makes this scene incredible.
The movie shows a clear transition in this man, Solomon Northup from being an educated, respectable man into becoming a simple slave, or to his slave name "Platt". There are two key symbols in the film that I believe represent this. The first is Northup's violin. While Northup is a man in Saratoga, New York, he is an accomplished violinist. This is a certain sign of Northup's education and his freedom; no slave would be able to play a violin. While in William Ford's plantation, Northup is given a violin as a sign of gratitude from Ford. This is almost his last grasp onto his former education and class. Later in the film, after having experienced the horrors of slavery for quite some time, he smashes the violin. This could be considered to be him destroying what was left of his past life as Solomon Northup, a free man from New York to his slave alter-ego "Platt". The second example of this transition is the songs sung by the other slaves at the plantations Northup was in. In earlier times in his slave life, Northup was an outsider to the songs sung by the other slaves. Northup's outsider status is obvious, he has been educated, he is a free man, he is not like the others who have been slaves for years, if not their entire life. However, following the death of a fellow slave, within his utter sorrow, begins to sing lowly with the rest, and then loudly. This shows that he has given up and accepted his status as a slave.
The film has been released following the release of several other movies set in mid-1800s America, which revolve around slavery, such as Django: Unchained and Lincoln (both released in 2012). "12 Years a Slave", however is unlike these films in its approach to slavery. Beyond few scenes, the other films simply talk about the horrors of slavery, rarely showing them. "12 Years a Slave" deals with the issue of slavery with clear, blunt images on the true tragedy that slavery was. For dealing with the issue of slavery as well as it did, the film certainly deserves credit.