12 Years as a Slave is a film about real life events of a free African American man, Solomon Northup who is captured and sold into slavery for 12 years. The film takes us through Northup’s 12 years as a slave. In the film, you get to vividly see the cruelty, kindness and struggle to freedom that Solomon receives and observes from his masters as the years went by. Through his life as a slave he also gets to meet and interact with other slaves.
In the beginning, Solomon Northup lives with his family in New York City and works as a violinist. He meets two men who promise him a two week music job in Washington DC. However, they intoxicate him with alcohol, drugs and sell him as a slave under the name Platt. At first, Northup tries to inform his captures of his kidnapping but his efforts are futile, and he ends up in more trouble that involves beatings and starvation. In view of this, he decides to be cooperative and agrees that his name is Platt and that he is a slave.
Northup is first sold to a plantation owner, William Ford in New Orleans. Northup works hard, and he even creatively engineers a waterway for transporting logs across the swamp. William Ford is impressed with this and he in turn rewards Northup with a violin. Ford's carpenter, John Tibeats is jealous about this and in his attempt to beat Northup, ends up with him being beaten up instead. John Tibeats and his friends decide to torture Northup but Ford interrupts them and in his attempted to save Northup's life sells him to a plantation owner, Edwin Epps.
Northup second master, Edwin Epps is cruel and sadistic. While working for Epps, Northup meets a hardworking slave girl called Patsey whom Epps frequently rapes. Later on, Epps plantation is infested with cotton worm and he leases his slaves to another plantation owner, Judge Turner. Turner allows Northup to play the fiddle at his neighbours wedding and