12 Years a Slave ( 2013 )

Originally this movie was not in my watch list but once it was in the running for an Oscar, I couldn't miss it. And I am glad that I managed to finally watch the movie.

This is not your regular family entertainer and is a very intense watch. I have read several books - both fiction and non fiction which has given me a fair idea of the pre-civil war slavery in United States. Steve McQueen has brought a near perfection portrayal of slavery with single minded determination via this movie. 

Based on the memoir written in 1853, the movie portraits the life of Solomon Northrup, a learned , intellectually endowed free man living with his family in Saratoga, New York City. As a gifted violinist, he doesn't think twice when a couple of men invite him to Washington DC for paid performance. They have a good time with him drinking and making merry and in the morning sell him to Slavery. 

Thus begins Solomon Northrup's 12 years of Slavery. He is transferred from plantation to plantation with his pleas of being a free man falling to deaf ears. 

Steve McQueen has brought to us a piece of history which brings alive the gory realities of the American Slavery. Solomon Northrup's ( beautifully portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor) 12 years of journey is tough, frustrating and violent. He not only looses his freedom but is stripped of the basic dignity that any man would want. It is unbearable to think that one human being could do this to another. The fate for the women were worse. They were brutally beaten up, mercilessly separated from their children and several were savagely raped.

In Epp's (Micheal Fassbender) cotton farm, Solomon meets Patsy ( Lupita Nyong ) who is also a Slave. She is a star performing slave who manages to  pick the 500 pounds of cotton a day. Epps is lavish with his praise for Patsy, lusts for her and repeatedly rapes her. Epps attraction for Pasty does not go unnoticed by his wife who also chooses to unleash her wrath on Patsy. 

Patsy's fate seems so much more worse than solomon's. Patsy being tied naked to a tree and whipped till her skin's is mangled is probably the most hear trenching scene of the movie. The hopelessness of the situation just leaves you with a sense of frustration.

On the whole the movie is a testament to the degradation of Sal very. Hats off to Solomon Northrup for not only surviving this worst form of human degradation but having the guts to write a Memoir and tell his story. Haven't had the time to read the book, but I sure have put it in my Bucket list.

Verdict :- 10/10. But definitely not for weak hearten.