Watch 12 Years a Slave- Solomon Northups Odyssey

12 Years a Slave is a gripping drama based on the incredible true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York in the mid-1800s who was abducted and sold into slavery in the Southern United States. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr., the movie stars Avery Brooks in the lead role of Solomon, alongside Rhetta Greene as his wife Anne, and Mason Adams as the kindly lawyer who helps him regain his freedom.

The story begins with Solomon living a happy and prosperous life with his wife and children in Saratoga Springs, New York. He is a talented musician and skilled carpenter, and is respected by all who know him. However, one day he is approached by two con men who offer him a job as a musician in Washington, D.C. Little does he know that they plan to drug him and sell him into slavery.

Solomon wakes up in chains, and is taken to a slave market in New Orleans where he is sold to a brutal plantation owner named William Ford (played by Alan North). Despite his best efforts to remain strong and dignified in the face of unspeakable brutality, Solomon is eventually beaten into submission and forced to accept his new life as a slave.

Over the course of the next twelve years, Solomon is sold to a series of plantation owners, each one more cruel and sadistic than the last. He endures endless physical and emotional abuse, witnessing the horrors of slavery firsthand as he struggles to maintain his humanity in the face of constant degradation and despair.

Throughout his ordeal, Solomon never loses hope of regaining his freedom, and his determination and resourcefulness ultimately lead him to the attention of a compassionate Canadian abolitionist named Samuel Bass (played by Ken Pogue). With Bass's help, Solomon is able to send a letter to his family in New York, and his case eventually comes to the attention of a determined lawyer named Henry Northup (played by Rhetta Greene) who sets out to bring him home.

12 Years a Slave is a powerful, emotionally charged movie that offers a searing indictment of the institution of slavery in America. The cast is uniformly excellent, with Avery Brooks delivering a standout performance as Solomon, capturing both his indomitable spirit and his profound sense of loss and despair. The film offers a stark reminder of the brutal reality of slavery, and the ways in which it dehumanizes both the enslaved and the oppressors. At the same time, it celebrates the resilience and strength of the human spirit, and the power of hope and determination to overcome even the most overwhelming of obstacles.