12 Years a Slave (1983)

If 12 Years a Slave was made 30 years earlier.

Directed By: Spike Lee

Plot
In 1841, Solomon Northup is a free African-American man working as a violinist, living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D.C. However, once they arrive they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch. Northup proclaims that he is a free man, only to be savagely beaten with a wooden paddle and then a leather belt.

Northup is later shipped to New Orleans along with other captive African Americans. He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt to being a slave and not tell anyone he is a free man. A slave trader named Theophilus Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Ford takes a liking to Northup and gives him a violin. However, tension grows between Northup and plantation carpenter John Tibeats which ends with Northup savagely beating and whipping Tibeats. Tibeats and his group try to hang Northup. Although they are not successful, Northup is left on the noose for hours before he is finally cut down. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to another slave owner named Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain that he is actually a free man, but Ford tells him he is too afraid and that he cannot help him now.

Edwin Epps, unlike Ford, is ruthless and unforgiving. Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave who can pick over 500 pounds of cotton a day, twice the usual quota. Epps regularly rapes Patsey while Mrs. Epps abuses and humiliates her out of jealousy. Sometime later, cotton worms destroy Epps's cotton. Unable to work his fields, Epps leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's wedding anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him to Epps. In the middle of the night, a drunken Epps wakes Northup and questions him menacingly about the letter while holding a knife to Northup's stomach. Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Afterwards, Northup mournfully burns the letter to prevent Epps from finding it. Some time later, Patsey is caught by Epps going to a neighboring plantation in order to acquire soap, as Mrs. Epps won't let her have any. In retaliation, Epps orders Northup to whip Patsey to near death. After the incident, Northup destroys his violin in a rage.

Northup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer named Samuel Bass. Bass is unsettled by the brutal way that Epps treats his slaves and expresses his opposition to American slavery, earning Epps's enmity. Northup overhears the conversation and decides to reveal his kidnapping to Bass. Once again, Northup asks for help in getting a letter to Saratoga Springs. Although Bass is hesitant at first because of the risks, he agrees to send it. One day, the local sheriff arrives in a carriage with another man. The sheriff asks Northup a series of questions to confirm that his answers match the facts of his life in New York. Northup recognizes the sheriff's companion as Mr. Parker, a shopkeeper he knew in Saratoga. Parker has come to free him, and the two embrace, though an enraged Epps furiously protests the circumstances and tries to prevent Northup from leaving. Northup gives an emotional farewell to Patsey and rides off to his freedom.

After being enslaved for 12 years, Northup is restored to freedom and returned to his family, leaving behind the other slaves. As he walks into his home, he sees his wife with their son and daughter (fully grown) and her husband, who present him with his grandson and namesake, Solomon Northup Staunton. Northup apologizes for his long absence while his family comforts him. The film's epilogue displays a series of graphics recounting Northup's unsuccessful suits against Brown, Hamilton, and Burch, along with the 1853 publication of Northup's slave narrative memoir, Twelve Years a Slave. The memoir describes his role in the abolitionist movement and the mystery surrounding details of his death and burial.

Cast

 * Danny Glover as Solomon Northup/Platt
 * Jeremy Irons as Edwin Epps
 * Alfre Woodard as Patsey
 * Susan Sarandon as Mary Epps
 * Kevin Spacey as John Tibeats
 * Alan Rickman as William Ford
 * Cicely Tyson as Mistress Harriet Shaw
 * Robert Redford as Samuel Bass
 * Margaret Avery as Eliza
 * Donald Sutherland as Armsby
 * John Lithgow as Merrill Brown
 * Mandy Patinkin as Abram Hamilton
 * Paul Nicholas as Burch
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Clemens Ray
 * Max von Sydow as Mr. Parker
 * John Candy as Theophilus Freeman
 * Yaphet Kotto as Robert
 * Wayne Rogers as Judge Turner
 * Dabney Coleman as Ebenezer Rayburn
 * Oliver Reed as Biddee
 * Elliott Gould as Sheriff
 * Regina Hall as Emily

Rating
Rated R.