12 Years A Slave

Chief Chick Comments

This true and terrifying story is difficult to watch; yet you should see it. It is nearly impossible to believe that only 150 years ago we enslaved people and treated them worse than animals. Solomon Northup was educated and free living with his wife and two children when he agrees to earn some money accompanying two performers to Washington DC and playing fiddle for good pay. They drug him and sell him to slavers who ship him to the South where he is sold along with others similarly kidnapped, some slave and some free. He first ends up with a somewhat kind Benedict Cumberbatch but later must be sold to Michael Fassbender who is unbelievably cruel to the slaves on his cotton farm. While the movie is long, it is hard to know what could be cut. The cruelty shown is hard to see especially when at that time there seemed no hope for these men and women. I expect there will be several Academy Award nominations from this movie including Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon and Michael Fassbender as the plantation owner

Flock Comments