Life Is Hard If You Don't Have A Voice

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2015)

The history of slavery is indeed an evil and harsh event, knowing it didn't happen too long ago in the good old US of A. This movie gives an excellent depiction of that, portraying a happy and successful family man who is lured too far South and becomes a Slave.
Getting treated as nothing, but a "valuable buck", he has no voice at all, even when he kept insisting he was a free man from New York. He had to experience a few harsh "masters", one of whom made them dance in the middle of the night while drunk even though a long day of work laid ahead.
This is a beautiful and honest movie, even made more so by Lupita Nyong'o's riveting performance as a tortured slave who comes to believe that death is more welcoming than life. It's no wonder she won an Oscar for that.
This film perfectly captures how hard life can be if you don't have a "voice" and no rights at all. White people with authority and the "right papers" had to intervene to get you free and getting in touch with them was a "lucky" experience.
Solomon Northup was indeed a lucky man. The ending was especially heart wrenching and powerful, clearly showing that people are people, and not another piece of "livestock" to be sold or "owned".