12 Years A Slave

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It is not difficult to see how the 2013 Hollywood film, 12 Years a Slave, clinched the 2014 Academy Award for best picture. A Hollywood movie about slavery is certainly no stranger to the film industry and possibly, the rest of the world. From the animation Prince of Egypt to another recent film of slavery, Django Unchained, all of those movies depict certain aspects of slavery and its dehumanizing nature. Yet, what makes 12 Year A Slave a standout amongst all those other popular movies about slavery? The answer is simple. The film has, in every sense of the award, achieved the greatest effect of what a film (especially about slavery) can and should do: and that is giving its audience the most authentic emotional experience about American slavery …show more content…
The actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor who played the main character Solomon Northup was very essential in this aspect. Whether is it portraying Northup as a caring father, a loving husband, a loyal friend or his desolate role as “slave Platt,” Ejiofor has delivered every single facet of Northup to a T. As a result, he has, in a way, brought the real Solomon Northup to life (and not just a mere character on screen) and really allowed the audience to connect on a very personal level with the character. Of course, the film’s success would not have been possible if it were not for the masterful performances of the other supporting actors such as Michael Fassbender, the film’s antagonist who played the brutal—almost maniacal at times—slave owner of Northup named Edwin Epps, and Lupita Nyong’o who played the terrorized young female slave who was the object of Epp’s obsession. There was a scene in particular, where Fassbender’s character severely and publically whipped Nyong’o’s character because her character had disappeared from the plantation without permission to secretly get soap (because she was denied soap by Epps’s jealous wife). That scene, in my opinion, was portrayed with very raw emotions from both actors that really channeled the essence of the two character’s role in the film, which was to display the ruthlessness of the slave owners and the extent of abuse slaves back then had to suffer. …show more content…
Throughout the movie, the audience was taken into the past of Northup, then back to the present and then back to the past again as the film intermittently but strategically weaves into the flashback of Northup’s past to help the audience to understand his emotions and motivations of the present day. This is very effectively because it compels the audience to feel for Northup even more as they see how he was slowly, but surely, stripped away from his identity as a human from his initial freedom. McQueen’s tactical use of sound devices also helped the film to achieve the impact it has on its audience. In episodes of the film, music was used to either intensity or downplay certain emotions. For example, in the film, Northup used his music in one scene to overpower the jarring sounds made by a screaming slave mother and her weeping children as she was separated from her children during a slave sale. That was done not only to cover the cacophonous sounds from other characters in the film, but also to distract the real-life audience from a very disheartening scene, making them sad, but not too sad. In the case of less is more, the use of minimal sound devices in certain scenes was also very impactful. For example, in the scene where Northup was rescued from the plantation and brought back home, the soft and monosyllabic rhythm of the background music helped to deepen
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