12 Years a Slave

Saratoga/New York, mid-19th century. The African American Solomon Northup lives a simple but happy life as a free citizen. When two strangers hire him for a performance due to his virtuosic violin playing and then invite him for a drink, he suspects nothing. His horror is all the greater when he finds himself chained on a slave ship bound for Louisiana the next morning! Every reference to his guaranteed rights to freedom falls on deaf ears: Solomon is sold and forced to work under inhumane conditions for several extremely brutal "masters." Throughout his years of captivity, he soon realizes: he not only wants to survive, but to live with his family, in freedom! But for that, he must resort to extraordinary measures...