Hans Zimmer, though uncredited for much of the score, provides a discordant, scraping violin sound. The only "music" is the instrument Solomon plays. In the final scene, when Solomon is finally freed, there is no swelling orchestral triumph. There is silence. Then, a choke of a sob. This auditory restraint makes the 12 Years a Slave -film- feel less like fiction and more like a memory.
12 Years a Slave was a critical and commercial success, ultimately winning the Academy Award for . It arrived at a pivotal moment in the American cultural conversation, predating the mainstream prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement and sparking renewed interest in slave narratives as essential American history. 12 years a slave -film-
Burch did not answer with words. He answered with a paddle, then a cat-o'-nine-tails. Each stroke was a lesson: Your name is Platt. You are from Georgia. You ran away. You are nothing. Hans Zimmer, though uncredited for much of the
Consider the opening sequence of the 12 Years a Slave -film- : Solomon is handed a violin. In a long shot, he plays for his captors. The camera doesn’t cut. We watch his hands, his face, the slow realization that the men he is playing for intend to destroy him. Later, there is the infamous "hanging scene." Solomon stands on his tiptoes on a muddy patch of ground, a noose around his neck, for what feels like an eternity. In the background, enslaved children play, and women walk to the kitchen. Life continues. He is being slowly strangled, and no one helps. This framing—placing the agony in the center of a mundane landscape—is the genius of the 12 Years a Slave -film- . It shows that slavery was not a series of dramatic events, but a grinding, everyday existence of terror. There is silence
As the film progresses, Solomon is sold to several different slave owners, including the brutal and sadistic Edwin Epps (played by Michael Fassbender), who subjects Solomon and his fellow slaves to physical and emotional abuse. Solomon befriends a fellow slave named Bass (played by Dwight Henry) and a Canadian carpenter named John Tibeats (played by Brad Pitt), who help him maintain his dignity and hope for freedom.
Based on the true story of Solomon Northup (1808–c. 1863) and the 2013 film directed by Steve McQueen.