A very memorable tale

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2014)

Chiwetel Ejiofor is an actor I've been a fan of for some time now. I first took notice of him in Serenity, then was quite pleased with his performances in Children of Men, Redbelt, and Salt. 12 Years a Slave shows us just how talent his is. Through him we see joy, contentment, fear, horror, hate, anger, reluctance, hopelessness, and gratitude. He will be remembered as one of the greats.
Like many have said this is a very brutally honest depiction of life as a slave. It's truly horrible and Solomon's journey shows us a range of different he encounters. Amongst those who 'own' him we see truly evil people, opportunists, kind-hearted slavers and cruel slavers. Amongst his fellow slaves we see people who are helpful, selfish, indifferent, and traumatised. Through him we experience the worst of human nature and indifference to the suffering of others.
Solomon's ordeal shows us that even as a slave not everyone (but almost) enjoyed treating African slaves as property to do with as they wished, and were barely human. This story serves as a reminder of how far Western civilisation has come today, when compared to the rapid industrialist expansion which caused slavery of Africans to begin. Through this story we're able to see that social justice is of utmost importance