Adapted from the memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Solomon Northup lived as a free black man in the state of New York until the year 1841, when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. Twelve years later, when he was finally freed again, he wrote a memoir detailing the atrocities he had witnessed and experienced, in an attempt to convince northerners that slavery needed to be abolished.
Both the book and the movie effectively portray the horrors of slavery, but in very different ways. Often on this blog I've written about adaptations making alterations to the story to suit the change of medium, but in this case, they seem to mostly suit the change of intended audience. Northup wrote his memoir for people living before the American Civil War, when slavery was still legal; the film was made for people living 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Consequently, the book has a lot of disclaimers. Northup clearly doesn't want to be too confrontational or use generalizations, so he frequently points out that he's only speaking from his own experiences, he doesn't know how things are in other slave states, etc. He's also aware that his book will be denied and many attempts will be made to discredit him, so he presents as many dates and specific verifiable facts as possible. Most of these are omitted from the movie, which makes sense because I doubt anyone in 2013 would have bothered to go to a courthouse to verify transcripts from the 1850s, although it was helpful that the book kept mentioning dates; the movie makes it rather difficult to gauge how much time is passing. The book also makes it very clear that some slaveholders were mostly good people, like his first master, Ford. The movie makes Ford a little less likable by adding a moment where Northup starts to tell him that he's actually a free man, and Ford cuts him off, saying he can do nothing to help him. This was not in the book, and Northup actually speculates that Ford might have helped him if he hadn't been too afraid to talk to him.
Though the book describes many disturbing scenes in great detail, the movie is more explicit in a lot of ways that reflect the changing times, particularly with regards to profanity and sex. What little swearing there is in the book is censored, but not so in the movie, probably because the words "damn" and "hell" are significantly less shocking now than they were 160 years ago. Similarly, sex has become somewhat less taboo. I don't really understand why the movie adds that weird sex scene at the beginning, especially because I'm not sure who the woman even was, but nothing like that happens in the book. Masters raping their slaves is certainly implied and hinted at in the book, while it is much less vague in the movie. That change I do think was necessary and important. I don't think the book was intending to tiptoe around the subject, but I think if the movie hadn't shown it, critics probably would have accused the filmmakers of doing so.
As usual, a few scenes from the book didn't make it into the movie, including one very interesting section when Northup runs away into the bayou, but overall the film does a decent job of capturing the story. The book is a fascinating read, particularly from a historical perspective, and I feel like it should be required reading in American history classes. Since it isn't, or at least wasn't when I was in school, I'm glad this project gave me an excuse to read it.
Next up: The Imitation Game, based on a very long biography of Alan Turing by Andrew Hodges. I know last year I assumed I would be all caught up by the next Oscars ceremony, but considering how much I've slowed down and how early the Oscars are this year, it's looking like that probably won't happen. But we'll see.
