A film analysis of 12 years a slave

In 2013, director Steve McQueen released his most acclaimed movie, 12 years a slave. I remember when it first came to theaters my parents were in a hurry to see it. I too, after having watched the trailer, desperately wanted to watch it. Not surprisingly, my parents wouldn’t let me, due to its R-rating. Last night, I finally got to watch the whole thing (without telling my parents off course), and I can see why they didn’t want me to watch it. It was violent, gory, and very depressing. But unlike most mainstream movies of today which, in my opinion, use violence and gore simply to attract an audience, McQueen truly managed to use bestial imagery to make an audience feel and understand the injustice, prejudice, and corruption of 19th century American society.

Solomon Northup was a free black man living in the state of New York. He made his living through violin concertos, and he had a wife and two children; it is fair to say he lived a happy life. That is, until two illegal smugglers kidnap him and sell him as a slave in New Orleans. So starts twelve years of torture, rape, death, and unrelentless labor. He goes through three different owners, one kind and appreciative of his talents, one who is quite unremarkable, and one who makes Solomon and the fellow slaves suffer endlessly. He meets fellow free men who have been smuggled, mothers who have lost their children, whites who believe in abolitionism, and one slave who seems to have lost just about everything. By the end however, he is recognized as being a free-man, and he writes an autobiography that is widely spread in the North. The devastating part of the movies plot, was that it was not a work of fiction. It was not inspired by a real story. It was a very close renaction of a real man's life.

The thing I liked most about this movie was Solomon’s valiant struggle to retain his dignity. It gave me hope to see him fight when all seems hopeless. However, even Solomon is reduced to an obedient servant by the end of the book. He lies about his literacy, whips a fellow slave after being told to, and lies about another slave being drunk. There were several recurrent themes in novel also. The most important is arguably his violin. At the beginning he plays the fiddle with joy and pride. Near the middle when his master forces him to play, his music seems mechanical and robotic, as if it has lost all joy and emotion. Near the end of the book he destroys his violin in guilt, after having whipped a fellow slave. Furthermore, the same recurring violin melody plays everytime there is a moment of hope.