It’s hard to write about this movie without falling in the trap of writing about the slavery period in general and in the USA especially.

This statement is what makes “12 years a slave” one of the greatest movies. The atmosphere that the director Steve McQueen has created transports you to another place and time. You’ll forget that you are watching a movie and just feel what those humans were feeling.

Based on the true story of Solomon Northomb, a free black man sold into slavery, the movie depicts his journey as a slave and the lives of many others who lost their identities to ignorance and inhumanity. Solomon Northomb was a free black man who enjoyed his life as a musician without thinking of others who were subjected to all kind of racist acts. 

But what would you do if you became a slave? Would you fight and die? Would you submit all your life and surrender to a faith chosen for you?
What if you believe that you're superior to others and that it is your right to enslave a human? The worst is what if you do believe that you're inferior to others and that it is your destiny to live as a slave?

All these questions came to my mind while watching this movie.  In those 130 minutes I cried, hated, sympathized and felt human again in a time where this feeling is the most needed.


The performances of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender were beyond amazing and certainly worthy of all the possible awards and I particularly hope that the wonderful newcomer Lupita Nyong'o wins the Academy Award for best supporting actress.


“12 years a slave” is a movie about a man’s journey from physical freedom to physical and mental slavery then to total freedom. It’s a movie about despair and about begging for death to end a life that is not yours.