12 Years a Slave (2013)

There's a strain of thought that runs through the American body politic that since we are self-evidently "the greatest country on the earth", any perceived "minor" peccadilloes from our nation's past are easily forgotten and/or forgiven. This somewhat odd tendency raises its head most obviously in the treatment of Native Americans and, of course, slavery. It's not hard to find pundits on television to this day urging members of either ethnicity to more or less "get over it", move on with their lives and not dwell on long ago historical "anomalies". Putting aside George Santayana's famous maxim "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" for a moment, there seems to be a sometimes odd combination of jingoism and willful denial of history in some reactions to horrifying events like slavery. But is it also somehow related to the passage of time? Would anyone, even the most callous suggesting that African Americans should not still be bringing up the horrors of slavery, ever think of telling a Holocaust survivor to "get over it"? Whatever the reason for this perhaps strange tendency, spending a bit over two hours with 12 Years a Slave should provide ample opportunity for most viewers to realize there's still a lot to learn about long ago historical tragedies—but perhaps not always in the way one might imagine.

While the disgusting practice of slavery is portrayed in all its disturbing dementia throughout the film, what's really remarkable about this true life tale is how it quietly, firmly but undeniably posits the resiliency of the human spirit against almost insurmountable odds. The story of Solomon Northup, told by Northup himself, was a cause célèbre in the mid-19th century, a literary phenomenon perhaps second only to Uncle Tom's Cabin. The fact that Northup's harrowing story was true, unlike that of Harriet Beecher Stowe, only gave more power to its gut wrenching tale of a free black man abducted and sold into slavery, spending the next dozen years enduring all sorts of degradation and trauma. Rather interestingly, despite its renown at the time of its publication and for several years afterward, the book fell into obscurity and it wasn't until the mid-20th century that two scholars published an annotated version of it, at which point it started climbing once again into the general public consciousness. Though few probably remember it, there was actually a prior screen adaptation of Northup's book, a 1984 PBS made for television film entitled Solomon Northup's Odyssey, directed by iconic photographer Gordon Parks and starring future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine player Avery Brooks as Northup. That outing, much like the novel, fell into obscurity and for many 12 Years a Slave will be their introduction to one of the most amazing true life tales in the entire annals of history.

EXTRAS


12 Years a Slave: A Historical Portrait (1080p; 41:21) is a fantastic set of featurettes that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor reading from Northup's original book, as well as interviews with various cast and crew members.

The Team (1080p; 7:43) profiles the cast and crew. There's some great behind the scenes footage in this piece.

The Score (1080p; 3:55) looks at Hans Zimmer's elegiac music for the film.

Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:23)

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