The true story of Solomon Northup is a harrowing one, one that we as an American nation should be ashamed of. We cannot escape our past, even the ugly side of it, though there are some in positions of power that are actively trying to sponge it out of our history books and our museums as if to do so will make it not have happened in the first place. To forget the past is to risk repeating it, and it is important that we face it, accept that it happened, and do everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.
Solomon understood this nearly two hundred years ago when he wrote his memoir, putting on paper his story of injustice and enslavement. He also told of how he was virtually helpless after the fact in getting those responsible held accountable for their actions. Such was the situation in the United States in those days, even in states where slavery was outlawed. His book is not an easy one to get through, but it is an important bit of literature that really needs to be read. We get so few writings from those who experienced being slaves firsthand; most couldn’t read or write and were intentionally kept uneducated. Even fewer ever saw freedom until after the Civil War, and the slaves were freed. Solomon’s story is unique in that aspect.
Movies about slavery have been around for a long time. Rarely has there been one so brutally, though, as 12 Years a Slave. When I first saw it in the fall/winter of 2013, I was not prepared for how honest it was going to be. It was heralded at the time for the accuracy of its depiction of slavery in the U.S., and those going into it for the first time need to be prepared for the level of brutality on screen. This is an R-rated film filled with depictions of extreme violence and degradation aimed at Black people in a manner consistent with the times in which it is set. It doesn’t pull punches or try to soften the blows.
Director Steve McQueen had been looking for a project about slavery, wanting to tell a story that was different from the ones that came before it. For many months, he and screenwriter John Ridley collaborated on ideas, failing to come up with anything that struck a chord between them. Then McQueen’s partner, Bianca Stigter, found a copy of Solomon Northup’s book and brought it to his attention. McQueen was stunned by the story as well as upset that it wasn’t more well known. This was a firsthand account of slavery, and it wasn’t widely known. He made it his mission to translate that to the screen. It took a few years, including bringing in Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment to back it financially, which brought other studios in for further backing.
When the film finally released, after several years of development, it took the world by storm, turning a hefty profit and running away at the Academy Awards. It is telling though that McQueen and Ridley allegedly had a falling out over the film when it comes to the writing credit. The story reported was that Ridley wanted sole credit, whereas McQueen felt he deserved partial credit for the script. The rules of the Writers Guild of America gave Ridley the credit, and neither man thanked the other during their Oscar speeches. Ridley has since gone on record denying a feud, but McQueen has refused to comment on it, one way or the other.
The film they created tells the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free African-American man in 1841, working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. He is approached by two white men, Brown and Hamilton, who offer him some short-term employment as a musician in Washington D.C. This is a ruse, however, as they drug him and deliver him to James H. Birch (Christopher Berry), owner of a slave pen. When Solomon tries to proclaim his freedom, he is beaten and tortured.
He is shipped to New Orleans with other slaves, who tell him he must adapt to survive and never reveal that he can read or write lest he be killed. Slave trader Theophilus Freeman (Paul Giamatti) rebrands Solomon as “Platt,” a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). Ford is a man of conscience, but his plantation carpenter, John Tibeats (Paul Dano), is a sadistic brute, and when Platt fights back one day, Ford’s only option to protect Platt is to send him away, shifting the debt incurred in the purchase of him, to fellow plantation owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a pitiless man who is renowned for breaking slaves. Platt spends years under the ownership of Epps, hoping the opportunity will present itself to get news back home so he can be freed again under the law.
As the title suggests, Solomon spends twelve years in enslavement, much of it under the brutal ownership of Epps. There he meets fellow slave Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o), a woman who is Epps’ prize possession not only because she can pick cotton much faster than anyone else but also because he lusts for her, raping her. That doesn’t stop him from beating her often. His relationship with her was a source of tension between him and his wife, Mary (Sarah Paulson), who insisted he sell her. But he makes it perfectly clear that he would get rid of Mary long before he got rid of Patsey.
Mary gets her own revenge, though, by denying Patsey soap. When Patsey disappears for a short while to get her own, Edwin doesn’t believe her reasons and orders Platt to whip her, forcing him to strike harder and harder, nearly killing her. This act scars Platt far more than taking the lashings himself, and when we see her lacerated back, it is more gruesome than anything we could imagine. As I mentioned before, this film doesn’t hold back; it wants us to feel those wounds just as if they were inflicted on ourselves. It also wants us to feel the dehumanization and demoralization of the slaves when they are forced to disrobe for potential buyers to examine them like cattle.
We know that Solomon will eventually be freed—that is given away in the title—but how it happens is surprising. If it hadn’t happened just this way in reality, it would almost feel too convenient. But truth is stranger than fiction, and Platt is eventually paired up with a Canadian day-laborer who happens to dislike the whole concept of slaves. This opens up an opportunity for Solomon to get a message mailed back home and gain his freedom again. Brad Pitt, taking full advantage of the situation open to him as one of the financiers and producers of the film, cameos as the day laborer, and it gives him the opportunity to moralize to Epps about the day of reckoning and the evils of slavery. It’s a pivotal role, but it’s also a thankless role because of how it is written. With little screen-time, it is reduced to a handful of platitudes and some trite dialogue. Still, Pitt does the best he can with the limited canvas.
Chiwetel Ejiofor was a Steven Spielberg find, having made his debut in his historical slave drama Amistad. He went on to make a name for himself in a variety of roles, working for everyone from Spike Lee to Woody Allen. 12 Years a Slave became a career high point for him, though, bringing him more mainstream notice and earning him an Academy Award nomination. Unfortunately, this was also the year Matthew McConaughey appeared in Dallas Buyers Club, which was a tour-de-force performance, too. McConaughey came out victorious in the end, and there is no denying that performance was deserving of the win, but so too was Ejiofor. There could only be one winner. But just look at the scene when Platt is forced to whip Patsey repeatedly, look at his face as he does it, and then the moment afterwards when he intentionally breaks his violin in despair, and you will see some of the best acting ever on the screen.
I challenge anyone to watch the final scene of this movie and not be moved to tears. We can only imagine the range of emotions going through Solomon’s head as he is reunited with his wife and children, meeting his son-in-law and grandchild for the first time, and feeling the need to apologize to them for his shabby appearance. This scene is incredible to watch, made all the more so by the preceding two hours leading up to it. It’s also incredibly sad reading in the end titles that, while Solomon Northup never got his justice over the men who kidnapped him and sold him into slavery, he also died in obscurity, no date or location known. He exposed a dark chapter in American history and then disappeared into that history.
While 12 Years a Slave was not the first time this book was adapted to film, it is by far the most known adaptation. It brought that book back into the public conscience and educated a lot of us on the brutality from our pasts. In a time when there are some out there who want to sweep that history under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen, it is more important than ever to confront it and accept that it happened and we can do better. Films like this are meant to shock and disturb us. We should be speaking about these things because we cannot move forward without acknowledging our past.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Katagas (won)
Best Director: Steve McQueen
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley (won)
Best Costume Design: Patricia Norris
Best Film Editing: Joe Walker
Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker
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Release Date: November 8, 2013
Running Time: 134 minutes
Rated R
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard
Directed by: Steve McQueen
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