Yesterday evening, I saw 12 Years A Slave. If you haven't seen it you must do so. It was a very stark depiction of one man's journey into the bowels of hell called slavery. The screenplay is based on the book published by Solomom Northup in 1853 about his experiences being kidnapped and sold into slavery. This was a no holds barred film. It made previous movies about this subject absolutely worthless. I get why it won the Oscar for best picture. I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth about slavery in the United States because stories and documents have been lost over time. What does remain is some of the physical evidence that has been conserved in museums and by local heritage preservation groups. It's very hard to conceive the idea that holding someone in bondage indefinitely continues today but it does. We cannot simply shut our eyes and say it doesn't exist anymore or take a film like Gone With The Wind as a remembrance of things past. On the latter point, I know that film is just a fluff piece but there are those who do see it as historical fiction. It's not even close. What made 12 Years A Slave so good is that the director, Steve McQueen really strove for accuracy of detail. I'm quite sure he actors, both Caucasian and African-British/American, had a difficult time with their roles. I especially want to mention Michael Fassbinder and Lupita Nyongo'o because their roles as the sadistic owner and tortured slave were especially hard to watch because of the emotional affect. I can imagine the emotional destress they had during the making of the movie just trying to get the parts right. It was such an intense film.
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