12 Years a Slave, Our Eternal Shame

The movie 12 Years a Slave is filled with blood, sweat & tears.  The blood on our hands we can never rub out; nor should we.  Our nation, born on the ideal of equality was not self-evident.  The abolishment of slavery has not fully lifted the scourge of racial oppression.  Steve McQueen's movie is based on the book by Solomon Northrup, recounting his years of torment having been abducted as a "free man" in NY, shackled and sold into slavery.    Dir./screenwriter, Steve McQueen has made a movie that holds you in its noose.  It is meant to disturb, discust & forever brand us as the barbarians we were.  The atrocities & inhumanities are painful & shameful truths we should never forget or diminish.  This remarkable movie made me wretched as I saw through Northrup's eyes.  Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is stripped of every shred of dignity that keeps us humane.  I felt the sting of the lashes he bore & those he is coerced to inflict on Patsey (Lapita Nyong'o.)  Both actors give performances that are scorches into our souls.  Ejiofor emotes through his eyes alone:  fear, horror, disgust, guilt, sorrow, despair & hope.  I laud the incredible performances by all the actors & McQueen for creating a movie that is compelling & MUST be seen. 12 Years a Slave is a landmark of our nation's history that forever shames us but is not to be forgotten with the wind.