Solomon Northup, it seems was one of the few slaves who managed to get liberated from the iron fists of slavery, an unfortunate practice that was prevalent in ancient America. His startling revelations and account on slavery and the tormented life of slaves in his book “12 Years A Slave” has been adapted and made into a movie almost after 160 years by director Steve McQueen who seems to have a nose for scripts that paint the black pages of history with much more darker shades!
Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man and a brilliant fiddle player (violinist) is trafficked unlawfully by kidnappers who disguise themselves as businessmen and sell him to slave traders. The rest of the movie delves into the life of Solomon at the hands of his tormentors who treat him like an animal and trade him like a commodity.
We realize the meaning of freedom only if it has been taken away from us! Every scene where Solomon tries to break the shackles with his intellect, he is shadowed by his tormentors’ hypocrisy and egoistic ideals which leaves him as an incapable individual whose cries go unanswered! The visuals were too graphic sometimes that it was hard to digest whether those were the true happenings a century ago in America, which today boasts of upholding human rights to the fore!!
The performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor was brilliant and the girl who portrayed the role of a toughie who remained almost unshakeable in the face of ultimate torture, played by Lupita Nyong was the icing on the cake.
A must watch for its narrative and performances!!
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