Extremely Heartbreaking

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2016)

The film 12 Years a Slave follows the story of Solomon Northrup, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Throughout his twelve years of wrongful enslavement, he lives on two plantations, both cruel and brutal in their own ways.
While on the first plantation, owned by William Ford, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, he is treated fairly well by the owner. But the other overseers are brutal, beating and whipping him for no reason whatsoever. This leads to one of the most moving scenes in the movie, where Solomon is hanged from a tree. Solomon is hung, with his feet barely on the ground, as a punishment for retaliating against the cruel master. There was a big juxtaposition between Solomon, who was in agonizing pain, and the beautiful nature surrounding him, with children playing in the grass, which made the scene very difficult to watch. When Solomon was on the second plantation, it showed, even more, heart breaking cruelties, such as when he was forced to whip Patsey, played by Lupita Nyong'o, until her skin was raw. It also showed the raping and abuse that the women slaves suffered, which was truly difficult to watch.
Today, we will never be able to fully comprehend what it was like to go through life as a slave, this movie gives a lot of insight into it. It shows the realities of slavery, without sugarcoating it, or leaving the most important details out. I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone, as it's important to understand the realities of slavery and teach those who did not live through it, so we will not repeat this dark time of American history.