Lupita Nyong’o

The film “12 Years a Slave” is a remarkable film and different from previous films that I’ve seen about slavery. The injustices of slavery are evident and yet unknown to its practitioners. It’s a world they live in, because someone said it was OK. 

There is no righteousness in “12 Years a Slave”. Steve McQueen is not relentless in his depiction of the cruelty of slavery in America.  He is not gratuitous with the use of words, sex or violence. It is an even portrait of the times.  We get the picture quickly, cruelty is what human beings have learned and now practice. We do what we can get away with or mimic what has been done to us. It is how we’ve learned, sadly. Unlike Sgt Witt in the “The Thin Red Line”  we don’t question ourselves before we act. Why are we doing this?

“This great evil. Where does it come from? How’d it steal into the world? What seed, what root did it grow from? Who’s doin’ this? Who’s killin’ us? Robbing us of life and light. Mockin’ us with the sight of what we might’ve known. Does our ruin benefit the earth? Does it help the grass to grow, the sun to shine? Is this darkness in you, too? Have you passed through this night?” ..Witt, The Thin Red Line 

The Hero’s Journey

Solomon Northup’s is metaphorically Pinocchio or more correctly following an abbreviated version of  “The Hero’s Journey“. Solomon is naive because he believes that he is free and will be treated like all free men. He is unaware of the evil that lies in the south (The Unknown), because he can’t see it in the north (The Known). McQueen paints a picture of reality. The sky in the south is no less beautiful than the sky in the north. There are no visual manipulation or distinct musical cues.  The people in the south believe that they have been given the right to own other people. The people in the north believe they have the right to declare others free. Where do these “rights” come from?

What is gracious about this film is that it avoids the temptation of Revenge. The audience doesn’t cheer at the end. The “evil people” (the people we are not like) don’t get there upcommance.

Edwin Epps, 12 Years a Slave: Sin? There is no sin. Man does how he pleases with his property.

There are automatic triggers that surface when the subject is slavery. People pick sides, assign blame,  responsibility, declare ownership, causes, and race becomes the topic debate. Slavery is at times thought of as a unique and horrific American event, that happened in the past and no longer exist. None of which is true, we call it something else now like Human Trafficking, Unlawful Imprisonment or Forced Labor. Slavery may no longer be legal in the world and people still do what they can get away with.