Film: 12 Years a Slave

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup

January is Anti-Slavery month in the USA, and marks the release of a graphic new film: '12 Years a Slave' directed by Steve McQueen. Already nominated for nine Oscars, it is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a black man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery. One of the few slaves to escape bondage in the United States, he published his memoirs in 1853 and went on became a prominent figure in the abolitionist movement.

The beginning of this screen account portrays Northup, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, living happily with his wife and children in a prosperous part of upstate New York, where he earns a good living as a carpenter and violin player. Befriended by two strangers one day, Northup is persuaded to take a short trip to Washington to perform as a musician there.

Soon the nightmare begins. Northup awakens from a drunken evening in chains, sold by his new 'friends' into slavery. His cell window is within view of Capital Hill. Stripped of his identity and now called 'Platt', he is shipped to New Orleans on a paddle steamer, with a group of other black men, women and children, where they are sold off to the highest bidder.

We see Platt's sense of disbelief and horror as he endures every possible abuse, beatings and whippings and witnesses the torture of his fellow prisoners. Particularly poignant is a woman separated from her children. She weeps unconsolably and the plantation owner's wife looks on sympathetically, saying: "poor woman - she'll soon forget them."

Platt's first owner, William Ford, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is relatively kind, and enlists his help as an engineer and musician. But his overseer John (Paul Dano) becomes very resentful about this and after a bloody fight, Platt is sold to Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a sadist who quotes scripture as justification for beating his slaves and raping the women among them.

What follows is a relentless assault on the senses, with scenes of rape, savage beatings, torture, hangings - sometimes set against beautiful pink skies, or scenes with the plantation owner's wife and sisters calmly strolling about on the verandah of their lovely house - somehow oblivious of the atrocities taking place in their front garden. The owners lead prayer services outdoors each Sunday. Platt is forced to play music for dances at neighbour's parties or on the slaves' day off - reminiscent of scenes in concentration camps - where I believe the Nazis would get Jewish prisoners to play and dance.

As the harrowing years pass, the future seems hopeless, until one day, very near the end of the film, Platt meets a Canadian stranger played by Brad Pitt, who he learns to trust.

Personally I wish the film could have shown us a little more about Northup's life after his ordeal as a slave.

12 Years a Slave has a 15 certificate. I would have given it an 18. It's a hard film to watch, but worth seeing. A salutary reminder that there are many more slaves in the world now, than there were when this story took place. And they are not all in faraway places - as recent police investigations in the UK have shown.

For more information on the Anti-Slavery Movement see: www.antislavery.org/english/