12 Years a Slave

Throughout this film, the audience sees a number of views regarding slavery during the 1800's. We see an accurate representation of what life for a slave would have been like on a plantation. We see the struggle of some of the white slave owners who want to help the slaves, and finally, we witness the view of the white slave owners who has no regard for the lives of his slaves, thinking of them only as his property, not as human beings.

McQueen has accurately portrayed the life of Solomon Northup, showing how his life was turned upside down by people he thought he could trust. This situation would have been quite common for the time as white people would often trick free black people, men in particular, into thinking they would be well paid and have a better life if they were to follow. However, as clearly shown in this film, this was not the case. Solomon, being ripped from his family had to endure a painful boat journey, (accurate of the journey many would have taken from Africa to America) witnessing the deaths of his friends, later to discover his name had been changed. The scene when Solomon's name is changed to 'Plat' shows the taking away of an identity, and actor,Chiwetel Ejiofor, conveys shock and disappointment when he discovers this.

Furthermore, we see a sympathetic white slave owner in Ford (Cumberbatch), we see the struggle and pain in his eyes when he is forced to split up mother and child, although it can be argued by some that he could have tried harder to keep the family together, that he gave up too easily. The contrast of this character and the character of Epps played by Fassbender is prominent. The audience can see the difference between the tow owners and the way the slaves are treated. When we witness the harsh whipping of Patsey towards the end of the film, the audicne can almost feel her pain, we shudder at the sound of the whip hitting her back, your heart bleeds with every one of her cries of pain. This  scene in particular makes you feel for the slaves. We undersatnd the sheer brutality of the slave trade during this period and we gain an authentic understanding of the life of a slave.

This is the story of a lucky man, who wasn't born into slavery, no did he die in slavery. Although his time as a slave would have been horrific, as portrayed, it is important to understand that he was one of the lucky ones who was freed, who was able to see his family again. As the audience, we need to understand that for the majority of slaves, the events shown in this picture were not experienced for 12 years, but for their entire lives.