12 years a slave - not only a movie review

Hey all,

during the Christmas break I finally had the time to watch several movies I had wanted to see at the cinema, but - as usual - didn't have the time to do so. Among them was "12 years a slave" directed by Steve McQueen, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt. I can't really tell why it caught my attention, I only know that I wanted to see it. It has got several awards, such as the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award and the British Academy Film Award as best movie, Nyong'o also won the Oscar for best actress in a supporting role as well as Ejiofor's Britih Academy Film Award as best actor in a leading role.

To be honest, award-winning movies are not necessarily good too, on the contrary, winning movies often only perfectly fit given standards and therefore win prizes.

However, this movie deserves every prize it has won and is doubtlessly one of the best movies I have seen recently.

In short, 12 years a slave is a historical drama which tells the story of Solomon Northup, a free African-American who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. All this happens during a period of time where slavery is practised throughout the American colonies in the South. I only knew a few facts about this time, that's the reason why I did some research on that topic to understand everything a little bit better - and wanted to share some facts (and thoughts) with you.

In America slavery began when the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. A long period of personal nightmares, as abuse and cruelty is concerned, was about to begin for most of them. All of these slaves who were taken to what now is the United States helped build the economic foundations of the new nation.

Virginia was back then a sparsely populated area, inhabited by people who try to make the colony profitable for England. When Dutch arrived, they brought 20 African slaves with them who then stayed with white families to support them. As the colonies started to prosper, slaves grew more and more important. But unlike their European counterparts who held citizenships in their home country, slaves were never subject of the English common law in America - they were workers without rights.

In 1641 slavery was legalised. This meant a dramatic change for the slaves: they became the personal property of the landowners and could be owned for lifetime. In 1660 English King Charles II established the Royal African Company to bring what they called the "Black Gold" from Africa to America because their labour was so profitable.

When England finally outlawed its slave trade in 1807, the American colonies relied on their own internal slave trade. By 1860, a million people were moved and sold within the colonies, tearing families apart and going miles from the East coast to the South.

But not only were they kept for doing hard work on the plantations, women were also taken as prostitutes or to be misstresses of their masters. The enslaved population was controlled by legally authorized violence.

Slavery has always had its critics in America though, as slave trade grew, so did opposition and eventually America became a country divided. This division into the Northern part of the United States being against slavery and also abolishing it step by step, and the Southern part which held onto slavery, teared them apart in the American Civil War (1861-65). Even though four million slaves were freed, the legacy of slavery kept on playing an important role in American history, up to civil rights movements in the 1960s. 

There would be many more things I could tell you about this cruelty and brutality called slavery, but let me get into some details on the movie itself now.

As already said, it is based on the life of free man Solomon Northup, who is taken as slave in 1841. Solomon is an educated, hardworking man and violinist, living in Saratoga Springs in New York state together with his wife and two children. He is offered a job as musician in Washington D.C. he can't resist - the place where he gets kidnapped, delivered to a slave pen and taken to New Orleans afterwards where he is given the name "Platt". The first master he works for gets soon very impressed by his "talent" and knowledge since slaves are supposed to be illiterate and not even capable of any writing or reading. Life could have been someway "easy" - that is to say, with hard work all day long, but without any harm and brutality - but tensions are being built up with one of the overseers. Resultingly, Solomon is sold to an other planter, who turns out to be extremely sadistic, cruel and honestly believing that he has the total right to abuse his slaves. For instance, the slaves are beaten if they don't pick at least 200 pounds of cotton every day. Young Patsy, played by Lupita Nyong'o, is praised lavishly by the master because she picks 500 pounds a day. The landowner also sees her as his misstress, is attracted to her and rapes her frequently, what on the other hand causes his wife to become jealous for no reason. 

After a betrayal, Solomon seems to lose his confidence of regaining his freedom ever again. During construction works where he gets to know a Canadian labourer, played by Brad Pitt, who expresses his opposition to slavery, Solomon tries asking for help one last time. A letter is sent to Saratoga Springs, resulting in the arrival of the local sheriff some time later. He is accompanied by a shopkeeper from Saratoga. They have come to free Solomon Northup, though the master is furiously protesting against it and tries to prevent him from leaving because he still believes that he can rule over his slave.

After 12 years as slave, he is restored to freedom and returned to his family. What is left unknown - and still is nowadays - are details on his death and burrial.

The movie is quite shocking at the beginning. Well, throughout the movie you have sequences that will definitely take your breath away and leave you astonished for a moment. Due to the fact that it tells the story of a real person and the fact that it happened to so many more people, you really start to think, collect thoughts and pity those who had to live in these times experiencing all that. It's somehow really frightening what people can do to each other. Further, if you think about the time - and that it's not thaaaat far in the past. Discussions about race, ethnicity and even racial segregation are not that far-fetched - when you think of earlier happenings in the United States last year or the Charlie Hebdo shooting last week....

But that would be too much for now... 

Hope to have you reading my posts soon again!

Good night!