12 Years A Slave Accuracy

660 Words2 Pages

12 Years a Slave is the most powerful and moving American slavery movie of all time. Although it’s a big statement, it is an accurate one. The film leaves you feeling as though you have just experienced slavery. The historical and biographical film tells the story of Solomon Northup who was kidnapped, sold into slavery and put to work for 12 years before his release. This film is gory and horrific but really tells the story of the past. This film will exceed any expectations. Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace does not begin to compare to 12 Years a Slave’s accurate re-telling of American history and is more based on dramatized storyline for the interest of the viewers than the truth. In this case, 12 Years a Slave did an astoundingly better job. Although far off, in movies such as James Wan’s Saw franchise, viewers take enjoyment in watching people killed and tortured as if it’s an enjoyable sport. This is …show more content…

The honesty and depth of 12 Years a Slave is what teaches today’s people the true history of apartheid and slavery and McQueen deserves a round of applause for this. It is the director’s job to evoke the viewer’s emotions - though they do not have to be of enjoyment and happiness. McQueen has done exactly this in an extraordinary way to teach the horrendousness of our own past to today’s society. In his past movies, he hasn’t been known to be too scared to make the audience feel uncomfortable and that he isn’t willing to sugar-coat the story for the viewers. Why should we not be exposed to the true facts of our past? The film portrayed Solomon Northup’s family (a black family) as living wealthily and happily in New York amongst the white people and having no issues. This is not commonly seen in a film of this time period. Although being a long film, McQueen managed to keep viewers fully interested and focused throughout the whole duration of the

Open Document