Excellent portrayal of the reality of slavery

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2014)

12 Years a Slave is about a free African American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The movie demonstrates the significant amount of hardships, and in great detail the severe mistreatment's the slaves received during the years of slavery. The main character Solomon Northup is sold into slavery where he is no longer considered a person but but a piece of property. Throughout his 12 years as a slave he's sold to a few different slave owners, each one being harsher than the last. The movie showed the harsh treatment the slaves received like constantly being whipped, rapped, hanged and even late night dancing. Solomon continuously received these harsh mistreatment's, especially from the slave owner Edwin Epps. However, there were a few kinder slave owners he encountered. For example, one of the slave owners recognized Solomon's talent for playing the violin and even bought him his own violin so he could escape the hardships of slavery for a little while.
Throughout the movie, Solomon has flashbacks of his previous life, where he was free, and had a steady career. These constant flashbacks are what give him the hope to survive and dream that he might escape the jaws of slavery. Along his journey he tries to write several letters to his family, so that he could become free again, however his letters always failed to get sent someway or another. In fact, he even tried paying a white guy to send his letter for him, but this also failed to get sent. However, Solomon makes a deal with a white man that the white man will do everything he can to spread the word of Solomon's enslavement to his family. Which he eventually does, and escapes Solomon from slavery.
The director Steve McQueen did an excellent job producing this movie. He clearly portrayed the emotion and harsh reality of slavery. When I watched this movie, it was very emotional because I felt like I was part of the movie and when a slave was whipped I imagined being in their shoes, and feeling the intense pain the slaves were experiencing. Steve McQueen's clever use of imagery and screen shots also helped to complete this movie and prove to the public that slavery really did happen, and that it was awful. His movie makes the viewer feel horrible because they can't help but think that they let this happen to poor innocent human beings. It also signifies how wrong people were that blacks weren't people, that they didn't have feelings and that splitting up their families was okay. It makes me sick to know that at one point we did this to them, and that nobody did anything to stop it. Overall, the movie 12 Years a Slave is an exceptional example of the hardships the slaves endured during slavery.