Retrospective Film Review

12 Years a Slave (2013) • 10 Years Later — an unflinching portrait of a system built on suffering

In the antebellum US, a free black man from upstate New York is abducted and sold into slavery.

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man and talented violinist, is captured and sold into slavery while on a trip to Washington, D.C. Beaten and whipped into submission, he’s forced to renounce his freedom under the threat of further punishment. Northup’s story, told in the critically acclaimed film 12 Years a Slave, is a tapestry of human suffering. Through his lived experience, we’re given a glimpse into the dehumanizing effects of colonialism and the unimaginable horrors of the slave trade in America.

With expert performances, vivid characters, striking imagery, and unshakeable direction from Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave demonstrates how dehumanising evil can become commonplace within a colonial system when there’s profit to be made.

When Solomon stirs in a darkened room, his surroundings illuminated only by a small square of…