A Review of the Film 12 Years a Slave

In the Antebellum era, slavery and plantations forced slaves into a state of opposing communities against the whites, and the film 12 Years a Slave showed this accurately. The film solely focused on Solomon's journey as a slave, and presented the harsh suffering he had endured. The film also showed that slaves were treated as property, and had no equal rights compared to white men. Many aspects of the film does an effective job showing viewers how slavery took away people's freedom, the communities that were forced into making, and the journey of Solomon.

Slavery forced slaves to make opposing communities because the law demanded them to carry out duties on a plantation for their owners. One method slaves created was religion, so that they would not lose hope or fall into despair. Music was also used to survive the harsh environment that was put upon by the whites. Even when families were separated through the slave trade system, they created kinship: relating with each other as blood sisters and brothers. They also lived in small houses provided by owners, and had to sleep together which was very cramped up. The scene where Solomon was in the process of being traded, a family of two (a girl and a mother) was forced to separate. This showed how accurate slavery forced slaves into creating new communities.

White plantation owners treated slaves as property, and striped away their freedom, making slaves suffer through the hard labor that was given to them. To do so, white owners whipped and tortured slaves if they did not listen to their owners. This was a method showing despair to all who would not follow the law, and was a way to treat them lowly like property. In addition, black women were also sexually abused or raped by white men, making slaves more vulnerable to despair, and accepting their fate as property. In the scene where slaves got out of the boat in the film, they were given new identities. They were forced to throw away their original identities, and work only for plantation owners. Slaves only freedom was to endure the suffering brought upon by slavery.

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Solomon Northup, born in New York, was a wealthy free black man who became a slave in Washington. He had a wife and two kids, but historical articles say that he had three kids instead of two. Northup was kidnapped by two white men, and sold him into slavery for their own benefits. He was unable to escape, and later accepted his fate as a slave. Though forced into slavery, Solomon would not give in to despair. His first location was Ford's plantation, but was later transferred to Epps's plantation, spending most of his time there as a slave. While his journey, Patsey (another enslaved person) was alongside with him. Though she had a worse time being enslaved: she was abused, whipped, and raped by her plantation owner. In the end, both film and historical documents matched with Samuel Bass helping Solomon escape, and be free to help fight against slavery.

The film shows the aspects of Solomon Northup's journey, the opposing communities created against whites, and slaves' equal rights taken away in historical accurate fashion. It portrays what slaves had to live through every day in harsh labor. They were even stripped down to lowly life forms; treated as different species rather than the equal man. Slavery has brought significant misfortunes to the African American race as a whole.

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