MOVIE: 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave: a brutally honest portrayal of slavery.  This film is neither a Gone with the Wind whitewash nor like any other Hollywood production you have seen regarding the pre-Civil War South.  The film tells the true story of Solomon Northup, one of the few free Black individuals who successfully regained his freedom after being kidnapped and sold into slavery.  Solomon wrote of his experience 8 years prior to the Civil War (1853 publication date).  I will be shocked if John Ridley is not nominated for an Oscar for his screen play adaption.  The director is Steve McQueen, a British citizen, and I’m confident that he, too, will receive a nomination for Best Director, as should the film.  The movie opens with a brief slave quarter scene that is reshown in part later in the film.  You are then presented with the life Solomon had been living in upstate New York with his wife and two children prior to being tricked, chained and sold into slavery.  Solomon, played brilliantly by Chiwetel Ejiofor, made his living as a violinist.  Solomon is introduced to two men who ask him to accompany them to Washington D.C. for a 2- week job playing with a circus.  In D. C., they buy him an expensive dinner and drug his wine.  Solomon awakes chained and his 12 years as a slave commences.  The year is 1841.  The cast is excellent with appearances by well-known actors in brief but critical roles.  Paul Giamatti plays the heartless seller of humans.  Alfre Woodard has a short scene as the well cared for mistress of a slave holder.  In a more extended role, Benedict Cumberbatch, one of my favorite actors, plays the so-called good slave master while Michael Fassbender, another excellent actor, is the abusive plantation owner, Edwin Epps, who buys Solomon’s contract from the Cumberbatch character.  Both the good and evil slave owners conduct Sunday church services and quote bible passages to justify their behavior.  The savagery of the system is shown, including the common use of whippings, the prevalent rapings of Black women, the ease with which people were killed, and the physical and psychological violations committed.  The film also depicts the twisted mind-set of the slave owners’ wives.  The character played by Brad Pitt, a Canadian who is hired by Epps to work on a construction project, is a bit odd but perhaps it was just the accent Pitt chose to use.  Pitt was a co-producer.  The second half of the 134 minute film takes place on the Epps’ Louisiana cotton farm and these scenes will stay with you.   There are many strong performances.  Of particular note is Lupita Nyong’o’s portrayal of Patsey, Epps brutalized favorite.  Both Fassbender and Nyong’o will probably receive nominations for best supporting actor and actress.  The fact that a significant percentage of the U.S. population once supported the slavery system is deplorable.  So, too, is the fact that it has taken until now, 150 years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, to finally and accurately dramatize the absolute evil and horror of America’s slavery system.  This movie is not entertainment but rather a realitistic depiction, the consequences of which continue to impact us today.  This is a must see film.