12 Years a Slave, based on the book by Solomon Northup - 10 out of 10

12 Years a Slave, based on the book by Solomon Northup

10 out of 10

Knowing about the horror, the torture included in this motion picture, this viewer has been reluctant to engage with it and look at the terrible scenes of whipping, the awful beatings and the sufferings depicted in the Winner of the Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Actress and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.

The ordeal of Solomon Northup, portrayed by the extraordinary, Academy Award Nominated for the leading role Chiwetel Ejiofor, is so compelling as to be hard to watch, as he is taken into 12 Years of Slavery – as the title makes clear – a tragedy made worse by his initial status of free man.

He lives with his wife and children in New York, where he is an appreciated musician, very good at playing his violin, when two men make an offer for a tour, in which he will make very good money and he would be able to provide for his family upon his return from his travels.

Alas, the hero is trapped, probably drugged when they celebrate the supposedly successful enterprise and when he wakes up, he finds that he is handcuffed, his legs are in chains and he cannot move and when a man walks into the room where he is a prisoner, his demands to be freed are met with extreme violence and beatings, which would unfortunately be repeated later.

With other African Americans – called using the “n” word throughout the film and indeed with other, much worse insults – he is taken on a boat to the south – on board, one of them is killed by a white man and thrown over board – and they are left ashore where Freeman aka Paul Giamatti takes them into custody.

The cruel, despicable Freeman – not that he is an exception, this more of a rule for white men, owners of slaves – sells men, women and children and he makes a boy who seems to be only about seven jump, lift his feet to demonstrate his prowess and the qualities for which a future master should pay a big sum.

Ford is a slave owner played by Benedict Cumberbatch and he is interested in the mother of two children, but his attempted negotiation with Freeman fails on the issue of the keeping mother and children together and the vicious seller insists he will make an important profit and this is all he is interested in.

Ford is a little more complicated, for he is not the Absolute Devil – this position seems to be reserved for Edwin Epps aka Michael Fassbender – and at times he shows some kindness and understanding, albeit he is still a slave owner and as such, he is indifferent to the suffering of the African Americans.

Patsey aka Lupita Nyong’o – winner of the Academy award for Best Performance of an Actress in a Supporting role – says as much when she talks to the hero and emphasizes that as a white man, their master would never do anything if Solomon mentions his real status as a free man.

The protagonist is abused and attacked by the bestial Tibeats and when a fight ensues, the white overseer brings two others to help him and they are ready to hang the helpless slave that is saved at the last moment, but it is still somewhat inexplicably left hanging by a thread, for what seems like an eternity.

Ford transfers him to Edwin Epps and if we felt that there is nothing worse that can happen, we were mistaken, because this is the Ultimate Monster, a man so ferocious and stupid as to punish his “property” when for one day the quantity of cotton thy have picked is diminished – even if they have performed excellently – this brute was obviously unaware of the Regression to the Mean.

This is explained by the most influential psychologist of the present, the Nobel Prize winner and astounding scientist Daniel Kahneman in his fabulous Thinking Fast and Slow, in the chapter where he talks about the performance of Israeli pilots in the Israeli Defense Force, who had a tendency to do something out of the ordinary and the return to a more normal performance, in the same manner that others made mistakes and then performed much better -  a tendency we have to come to an average, after performing out of the general trend.

Patsey is so overwhelmed by the torture suffered at the hands of the slave owner that she demands that Solomon takes her to the river, puts her head under water until she is dead, for she cannot take it any longer – the master uses her in the field to pick cotton, but he also rapes, beats the poor woman that is also attacked and insulted by the wife of Epps, who is called to decide.

Between spouse and the slave he owns, he says that he would rather keep Patsey, but this is because he surely has this derangement, sadistic character and he wants a victim for his mad atrocities – the most gruesome scene of the motion picture – which otherwise is not lacking in horrid moments – has the young woman whipped by…Solomon, who is told that if he does not use his whole strength, the crazy brute would kill all black people he sees and he looks like meaning it.

Fortunately, after all this madness, Bass aka Brad Pitt enters the scene and he is an abolitionist that argues with the vile, monstrous Edwin Epps over the unjust treatment of the slaves, human beings like all the others that the slave owner sees only as property and as such something he can abuse.

They are my property and a man is free to do what he wants with his property – says the repulsive, loathsome man.

Solomon is very careful when talking with Bass, for although he sees a rare chance, he had tried before to have a white man send a letter for him, only to have that scoundrel report it to Edwin Epps.

This motion picture is outstanding and historical in its importance as a document, an educational work that would remain as one of the most important, classic motion pictures.