12 Years a Slave review

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2014)

This story begin in the the late 19th Century, introducing the character of Salomon Northup a very talented free black musician. Who has been abducted and sold into slavery. Through Salomon Northup story, the acclaimed director Steve McQueen offers the darkest part of American history. This film is not all about Slave Trade. It's much more than that. At that time African American were treated like chattel property that owners can move and buy as they want, a kind of hereditary slavery rise, as children born of a slave mother were slave as well. They were born and raise to be slave.
12 Years a Slave is not an usual slave story, as Salomon knows freedom. He was living in the North with his family, he has a job. Then, he has to deny his name, his freedom, who he is in order not to live but to survive. How a man can have the strength to endure this promise lifelong servitude? Mr.Ford, his first owner appeared, on the one hand as the worst one of them all as far as a slave owners is concerned because he is saying one thing but doing another. He knows that Salomon is a free man, and what does he do? Nothing. On the other hand he is not pure evil, if he was born in different circumstances he may have been a more acceptable person. Nevertheless, female characters have a great part in this story, either in good and bad ways. Patsey depicts a sort of stereotypes of the black young woman slave, who try to escape her faith from an assured death. In contrary , her master's wife, Ms Epps came out to be worst than her husband (starring Michael Fassbender) when she beg him to beat their slaves or whipped Patsey to death. Even when a slave woman let her children behind, a mother seems to have no compassion for her, when she may be the only person on earth who can understand what she's going through. Thus, a religious pattern is enlightened along the film as if Faith was the last way for Salomon to find peace and Freedom. A very special care is given to breathing, once when Mr.Ford save Salomon from death and once again when Patsey's been raped by Michael Fassbender character. The violon which Mr.Ford give to Salomon at the beginning of the film is a symbol of his previous life as a free man, it represents hope. When all hopes are lost Salomon fall into darkness and despair, burn his letter to his family and broke his violon. he is not fighting his destiny anymore. Until his testimony to Bass, whom genuinely save his life.
This film was very profound and I'll certainly remember it for a very long time partly because it taught me a few things about Slavery that I didn't know already and it encouraged me to read the book. I encouraged you to do the same!