It's intense, yes, but serves as a good reminder that the ills like slavery existed-and still exist-in the world. Much has been said and written about the brutality in this film. Woodard has about five minutes in the film, but it’s a memorable role as a black woman who now owns slaves herself. Because Epps is unhinged, Patsey can never have what Shaw has. A former slave who’s now married to a white plantation owner, Mrs. Newcomer Nyong’o gives a riveting performance as the girl who’s simultaneously the object of Epps’ love and hate. Epps is none too pleased either, and she too takes her hatred, jealousy and malevolence out on Patsey. He can show affection one minute and strike her the next. It’s especially fascinating to watch Fassbender in this role as a man who detests himself for being attracted to Patsey (Nyong’o), a young slave girl. Their slaves are property-merely objects that are meant to be broken. His next owner Edwin Epps (Fassbender) and wife (Sarah Paulson) are brutal people. But when Platt attacks Tibeats ( Dano, in a seething performance), the plantation’s insecure, ignorant and ill-tempered overseer, Ford sells the slave to another owner rather than risk anything more. His first owner William Ford ( Benedict Cumberbatch) is a fair man who sees that there’s something more to Platt and manages to listen to, and in some regard, respect the slave. Northup is eventually sold into slavery as Platt Hamilton, serving several masters deep in the Louisiana bayous. For the audacity to even tell his captors that a mistake has been made, Solomon gets a beating-the first of many. In his naiveté, Northup tries to reason with his captors, explaining that he is a free man. At the end of the engagement, he celebrates with his business partners-only to wake up in shackles the following morning. A musician by trade, Northup is lured to Washington, D.C., to perform for a few weeks with a traveling show. The Steve McQueen-directed film ( Shame, Hunger) is based on the memoirs of Simon Northup, an educated, free black man from upstate New York, who lives a comfortable middle class existence with his wife and two children. Yes, this star-studded ensemble is that good. And while they’re at it, they might as well go ahead and write in Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o for supporting actor nominations, too. The Academy might as well drop Chiwetel Ejiofor’s name in an Oscar nomination slot today for his portrayal of a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War era drama 12 Years a Slave.
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