12 Years A Slave review

12 years a slave was such an emotional film. We got to see the real aspects of slavery from a man who had been previously enslaved, yet managed to become a free man again like he once was, which I found made the film a lot more emotional and upsetting to watch. It gave us a true description of what it was like for them back then from their point of view and we really did see how brutally painful and cruel some people were to them. It shows us, in such an honest way, how awfully these people were once treated without hiding any aspects of the truth on how disgustingly the white Americans treated them, and so shamelessly as well. It was very apparent that that way of life was very normal for those men and they showed no remorse for the way they treated fellow human beings. During the film we get to see parts of Solomon Northups life, from when he was a free man, a well respected member of his community with a wife and children, living a completely normal and happy life. 

But before we know it we see him locked up in chains and rags. He's ends up pretending to be uneducated, and using a name that the slave owners give him, being someone he's not.

The way scenes were constantly switching from his life before slavery and then during, really showed how differently African-Americans lived, in different areas of the country, and the respect showed for them in the north compared to the lack of in the south was really disturbing. It was like going from being treated as almost equals (some men were still enslaved in the north but it didn't appear to be anywhere near as brutal as the way they were treated in the south), and then to be treated as if they weren't human at all. It was very upsetting. 

Brad Pitts character ends up helping to save Solomon from a life of slavery by sending the letter for him, resulting in his old friend finding him and taking him home. The scenes surrounding those moments. This scene showed hope, and proof that not every man in America was for slavery and that people wanted to start changing things, which they soon would. 

Overall I thought the film was beautifully made, not in a way to suggest a nice and happy film, but as to its honesty and depth about the history of slavery.  It was incredibly touching and the casting was spot on, I couldn't imagine anyone playing Solomon Northup any better than Chiwetel Ejiofor.