At
cinemas now
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender
Directed by
Steve McQueen
There is
no doubt that 12 Years a Slave is a harrowing film that even with our
knowledge of acting and effects makes for uncomfortable viewing. It must have
been harder to act it but I suppose the rigours that some of the cast had to go
through is nothing compared to what the slaves in the story endure. Based on
true events the film is set in the mid -1800s where free family man Solomon
Northup is tricked into accompanying two supposed entertainers to Washington
where he is promised earnings way in excess of the norm for his violin skills.
However the men get him drunk and sell him to a slaver. Solomon wakes the
following morning in a bare brick walled cell chained to the floor. Thus begins
a dozen years of mistreatment and abuse as he is hauled around several owners.
