“I just returned home from a viewing party hosted by Tracy Scott, the sister of Kelsey Scott who has a brief role in the magisterial film “12 YEARS A SLAVE.” Atlantas own Kelsey Scott portrayed “Anne Northup,” the wife of “Solomon Northup,” who was breathtakingly portrayed by actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (pronounced CHOO-ih-tell EDGE-ee-oh-for.) Nothing I have ever studied as a historian prepared me for the range of emotions this film provoked. It is startlingly brutal in its honesty and depictions, with Black American slaves and White Americans as real people with three-dimensional characters. It is also a stunningly beautiful film, not because of the ugliness of its contents, but rather because there is that moment when the tears will come. That moment when you imagine your own great grandparents in those same circumstances and you have no words to accurately describe that sensation of wondering how they managed to stay alive long enough to get you here on this earth. My tears came and they came so forcefully that I had to cover my mouth to keep from crying and sobbing aloud like a two-year-old. Yet, then there was that moment when your tears have purged and cleansed you. In spite of the horrors that you have just witnessed on that screen; in spite of the aid and comfort you wished you could have given to Solomon Northup and all of the slaves he encountered, you know that you survived to tell his and all of their stories. DO NOT MISS THIS FILM. ‘Roll, Jordan, Roll.’ Ashé! (10-19-2013) – Leslye Joy Allen, Copyright © 2013
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 23:46:46 +0000
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