There have been a number of very good films made about life in pre-abolition America (The Color Purple, et al). What makes 12 Years a Slave important is that it offers a perspective seldom revealed in historical movies on the topic of slavery in the United States: the truly Kafkaesque quality of life for people in danger of being thrust back into servitude at the caprice of mercenary criminals.

Most good films about the Holocaust manage to convey the surreal insanity of that period of history, where people were confounded at every turn by a bureaucracy and law system which designated some persons as nonpersons. In 12 Years a Slave, this very dynamic is at last brought to light in the story of a free black man who is kidnapped and forced into slavery for twelve years, while his family wondered up north where he had gone.

Some disgruntled reviewers have complained that every single black person enslaved was a free person wrongly enslaved, which is true, but the unique perspective here is that even black persons themselves were living their lives Up North while millions of persons were being abused Down South. The emphasis here is on the horrible plight of the slaves, but this film also reveals truths about the complacency of all persons going about their lives during this period, whether black or white, who were not at the time actively engaged in the abolition movement.

Some may find the film too violent and the depiction of white people too negative, but 12 Years a Slave offers an incisive perspective on what happened to all persons wronged during this period of US history. I recommend it for educational, not entertainment, purposes.