12 Years a Slave (2013)

A free man from the northeastern part of the US gets sold into slavery in the south by being tricked to go with two men who want to hire him as a performer. But after a celebratory dinner he is drugged and awakes in shackles and realizes he was sold into slavery.

Trying desperately to clear his own name and to prove his freedom, he gets sold from one slave owner to another until he meets a traveling carpenter who hears his story and tries to help him. This man send a letter to the slaves family in NY and they send a sheriff to set him free and reunite him with his family.

This is a gruesome story of slavery in the 1800' s and is not a movie for all viewers. Violence and graphic content are in the movie and is not recommended for children. This movie and its actors one several Oscar awards last week. I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, 2012) as Solomon Northup, Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Snowbirds) as Uncle Abram, Bryan Batt (Mad Men, Funny People) as Judge Turner, Scoot McNairy (Argo, Monsters) as Brown, Paul Giamatti (Sideways, The Illusionist) as Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, War Horse) as Ford, Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Inglorious Bastards) as Edwin Epps and Lupita Nyong' o (Non-Stop, East River) as Patsey.