’12 Years A Slave’ is an unfiltered, brutal, true, and the most historically accurate depiction of slavery in 1840s America. The film has won countless awards for best motion picture, best acting, and best writing. From an actor’s standpoint, Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Patsey, had one of the best performances I have ever seen. Her character is a slave on a cotton plantation. Patsey does not get a happy ending as the main character, Solomon Northup, does, instead she is left on the plantation and suffers immense torture. This film left me feeling all kinds of emotions, from anger to sadness, grief to helplessness. The scene that is burned into my mind is when Solomon is being hanged, and is barely surviving by the tips of his toes in the mud. Daily tasks move on behind him in the scene, as the other slaves are too afraid to help him. One woman offers him water but does not cut him down from the tree. The actors did not hold back with their outstanding, intense performances, and neither did the crew. All the technical aspects are deeply intentional from the music – eg. Solomon playing the fiddle – to the lighting, and points of focus for the viewers. I hated the content of this film (How could people let this happen?!) But loved how it was so perfectly done. I believe this film should be required viewing in all history and film courses in university.
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