- After watching Steve McQueen's landmark biopic 12 Years a Slave, I found myself browsing through a story in National Geographic that linked to an interactive map of slave and free populations in the US throughout history. There, I discovered that the county I grew up in once featured an enslaved population of nearly 13%, according to the 1840 census. That percentage represents over 4500 slaves in number at that time. The odd thing is that I don't even consider my home state to be part of "The South," at least as defined by Civil War boundaries. Still, just a few decades before my ancestors arrived in the country (voluntarily, it must be noted), my hometown apparently had a pretty robust slave economy in place.
- The reason I start off this review by reflecting on my own experiences instead of the admittedly more interesting experiences depicted in 12 Years a Slave is that this movie exists largely to make people stop and think about the nationwide human rights atrocities that sculpted both America's history and present. Of course most Americans know that slavery existed and the vast majority understand in an abstract sense that it was a terrible institution, but that is admittedly different from seeing the true story of a free man kidnapped only to have a dozen years of his life stolen away. That is precisely what happened to Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who finds himself duped, drugged, captured, and beaten by detestable set of slavers (Scoot McNairy, Taran Killam, Christopher Berry, Paul Giamatti). By the time Solomon is trafficked down to New Orleans (earning the unwanted new name of "Platt"), one of his fellow victims (Michael K. Williams) is dead while the other (Chris Chalk) is strangely thankful to see his former master.
- Solomon's first master, Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), is allegedly a "decent" man, although his decency notably looks the other way when it comes to separating women (Adepero Oduye) from their children or, for that matter, owning slaves in the first place. One of Ford's employees (Paul Dano), however, is considerably less decent even than that, which leads to a harrowing confrontation and attempted lynching that forces Ford to sell Solomon to the deranged plantation owners named Epps (Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson). Mr. Epps regularly rapes a slave named Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), who in turn finds herself attacked by Mrs. Epps out of jealousy. The unhappy couple even forces the slaves to dance for their entertainment, and the whip is never far from the master's hand. Needless to say, Solomon fears what would happen if Epps ever discovered that Solomon was an educated man.
- Although Solomon is betrayed by still another white man (Garret Dillahunt) before finally being helped out of bondage by two others (Brad Pitt, Rob Steinberg), his story and the long-overdue reunion with his family are but a momentary blip of happiness in what is otherwise a justifiably miserable tale. As Solomon departs the Epps plantation for good, both he and the camera look back at the remaining slaves with nothing but pity and hopelessness. Add to that McQueen's admirably unflinching depiction of violence and the painfully intense performances from Ejiofor, Fassbender, and Nyong'o, and you end up with one of those rare movies that is both unbearably difficult and absolutely essential to watch. You won't like what you see, but of course that's the message.
- Also featuring Alfre Woodard, Quvenzhané Wallis, and Dwight Henry.
