Oscar Winners Showing, “12 Years a Slave”

To celebrate Black History Month and to welcome in the 2017 Oscar, the Student Union Theatre on campus was playing the 2014 Oscar winning film, “12 Years a Slave” on Sunday, Feb. 5th, for free. The movie started at 6:30 p.m. Since I was the only audience member who was present, I won the prize (a goodie bag) at the end after taking guess at some trivia before the movie.

“12 Years a Slave” is an adaptation of Solomon Northup’s memoir. Solomon was a African-American free man who, in 1841, was sold. His personal story serves as a prism that mirrors the story of slavery in American history. Through director Steve McQueen’s lens, the audience could emotionally experience Solomon’s suffering and pain. The movie is about two hours long. During the two hours, hopelessness and calmness became the major sound of life. I was impressed with the music in the movie, as well as one of the character Solomon Northup’s lines: “I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” Without the music, it would be oppressive to experience and imagine the life of Solomon and the others who lost their freedom as human beings. Through the powerful line, “I don’t want to survive. I want to live,” one can sense the dignity of life, even in the depths of despair. I think that the desire and the hope of living is the bloom of human life, especially during the rough and brutal period of time. In the movie, while standing in front of the owners of the slaves, Solomon was the only one with eyes still blazing.

In addition, before being sold, Solomon was a freeman - just like us. That makes it easier for us to empathize with him and his journey from slavery to freedom. Although a single person's experience does not represent the entire history of slavery, it can arouse the audience's curiosity to learn more about the history. Furthermore, the inquiry of the movie is really relevant today. The movie shows and questions, what a human being should do when his/her right is violated? What he/she should do when facing irreversible changes? These are the questions that we still ask ourselves.