The issue of slavery is not an easy one to read or to view a movie about. But after all the publicity regarding this year’s Oscar winner for best picture, I took the time to watch “12 Years a Slave.”
I knew very little about Solomon Northrup other than he was a free black man living in the North before the Civil War. His story is powerful and unbelievably chilling. Sadly, it is not the only story of a free black whose right of freedom was taken away from him, but it is the only story we have written by someone who regained his freedom and was able to tell the world his story.
One of the most frightening aspects of the movie is the portrayal of white Southern society regarding black men and women. The director, Steve McQueen, through words and actions was able to vividly portray the idea that these people weren’t people but truly just property. In one of many the many scenes that show this attitude, Solomon is hanged from a tree for many hours, his feet barely touching the ground. In the background the wife of the plantation owner casually walks back and forth on her veranda not taking notice at all of this suffering human being.
Alex Haley’s “Roots” and, of course, “Gone With the Wind” have given us visual portrayals of slavery. “12 Years a Slave” should go to the top of this list in its truthful depiction of the evils of this “peculiar institution.”