Cruelty: The Story Of Solomon Northup

Imagine having a peaceful established life with your family during a time when being of a different race could put you life in danger. Unfortunately, you and your family are a part of that ‘unwanted race’ but you do live in the part of the country where you are respected or at least tolerated. For the time being you feel blessed. Then in an instant you are plucked from that life and dropped into a living nightmare. The story of Solomon Northup is tragic and almost unbelievable. Spending twelve years as a slave after being kidnapped and transported south into a slave owning state, Solomon who is actually a freeman, endures cruelty and abuse from his masters just like the thousands of other slaves that were unlucky enough to be born in the south.

In order to save Solomon from the overseer’s wrath, Master Ford hands him over to a notoriously cruel plantation owner, Epps. Master Epps is portrayed as a special type of evil. He often wakes up the slaves in the middle of the night and has them dance for him in the parlor. He seems to have a particular liking, maybe even obsession with one of his slaves Patsey which makes his wife furious and causes her to torture Patsey. His special liking for her leads him to sneak into her room many nights and rape her. Epps has his slaves work in the scorching sun picking cotton and if they do not meet a certain quota for the day, they get whipped. However, when he has a white man working as a slave, he gets special treatment. Solomon sees this as an opportunity to try and get a message out to his family since as a slave he will not be able to mail anything. However this white man cheats him by taking his money and telling their master of his plan. Solomon is able to successfully deny it and not get punished. A while later Epps is franticly looking for Patsey during one of his drunken episodes because he believes that she is sleeping with another nearby plantation owner. Once she

A really important thing to note is that because the story centered on the experience of this one person, we were often left to wonder what became of the other slaves that he worked with. Their stories are among the thousands of accounts of abuse and enslavement that consumed the south for many years. At the end of the film we are relived that Solomon was able to be let go and get away from that horrible life, but we are still left with the overwhelming feeling of sadness because we know that many others did not have that fortune. “ We are simply too aware - we are made aware, and in many ways we can never forget of the suffering that never ended, of the abuse never redressed, and of the anonymous lives that were rendered hopless for generation upon generation.” (LaSalle, M. San Fran. Chronicle) Another reason why this film is very different is because it dares to uncensor the worst parts of slavery and not downplay the real suffering that went on during that era. The idea that their actions were justified has not been commonly expressed in past films. Those beliefs are the purest kind of racism that has existed in our history. If we compare the root of those beliefs that blacks or african americans were not real people or lesser because of the way they looked, you will find unsettling