"Life is precious, love is more expensive, if it is for freedom, both can be thrown away." This famous poem by the Hungarian poet Petëfi, even across time and space, is still praised and admired by people, which shows that "freedom" has been the pursuit of people's upper classes from ancient times to the present.
Freedom has its own academic definition, presumably "the body is unconstrained, and the behavior can be at its own disposal."
Nowadays, the vast majority of people can achieve this, but they are more in pursuit of freedom of thought, which is the inevitable result of social development.
But before, including a small number of areas now, physical freedom was still a lifelong pursuit. The theme of The Twelve Years of Slavery is the desire for freedom.
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Twelve Years of Slavery is based on solomon Northop's 1853 biographical novel Twelve Years of Slavery.
Directed by Steve McQueen, co-starring Chevat Edgarfort, Michael Fassbinder, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyonio, Sarah Paulsen, Brad Pitt and more.
Released in the United States on November 8, 2013, the film won the 71st Golden Globe Award for Best Feature Film in 2014 and the 86th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film is about Solomon, an educated and married freeman living in New York, who is tricked into enslaving Washington by two white men on the pretext of introducing him to work.
He began a 12-year slavery during which he was humiliated and tortured, but never gave up his desire for freedom, and finally relied on the help of a well-meaning Canadian to deliver a letter home, and after a lawsuit, regained his freedom.
The background of the story is before the American Civil War, when the industrial differentiation between the north and the south was already very obvious, the north was dominated by industry, and the south was planting (cotton, sugar cane, etc.), the cultivation and harvest of crops required a lot of labor, in order to save costs, slaves became the choice of many farmers.
The director focuses the story on the American South, where slavery was most prevalent at the time, and does not spend a lot of ink to render the living conditions of the slave community, but turns the collective into a background board, highlighting Solomon's personal experience.
Unlike the previous Django Rescued, Solomon was either a slave from the beginning, he was a free man, so from his point of view to the audience, people can better understand the current situation of the slave group.
Solomon, like many of us now, was educated, had a happy family, and played the violin, so when Freeman introduced him to the circus to play the violin, he, like most people, thought it was just one more work experience and credulously believed him.
When he found out that he had been deceived, he had his first taste of losing his freedom, and confusion and fear suddenly struck him.
He was furious when he saw traffickers throwing slaves into the sea like dead fish, when they were whipped for not picking the prescribed amount of cotton, when they were sexually assaulted because they could not resist the fornication of the farmer.
He was terrified when he experienced being stripped naked and examining his body like an animal, being hanged by a white man and almost losing his life, and his hope of regaining his freedom being betrayed and trampled.
Following what Solomon saw and heard, the audience saw very really the injustices of slavery, where slaves were not free.
Slavery is not unique to the West, and there have been slave eras in the process of Chinese society. The relationship between slaves and slave owners is essentially a relationship between exploitation and exploitation.
This is a complete departure from the United States, which claims to be free and equal, so when Solomon walks silently in Washington with shackles in the film, he thinks that this is the freest place in America.
Undoubtedly the most profound mockery of slavery. Equality for all is illusory, relations under exploitation are bloody cruelty, freedom is the right of everyone, but under slavery, freedom is like an object, forcibly plundered by slave owners.
They even forcibly distorted the Bible like the farmer Epps as a shield to exploit slaves, believing that slaves were born without freedom and could only be redeemed if they were abused by their slave owners.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > second, the insistence on freedom from a personal perspective</h1>
When do people suffer? When not available. When will people be more miserable? Lost times. "People only feel cherished when they lose" is a phrase that often appears on emotional channels, but it is true at all times.
Solomon was once a free man, and when he became a slave and lost his freedom, he felt strongly uncomfortable, so during his 12-year slavery, he never gave up his search for freedom.
Like the protagonist of The Shawshank Redemption, Solomon is relentlessly striving to regain his freedom.
Many people will choose to give up when they encounter difficulties, and they will be depressed when they are hurt, which is actually understandable and common human feelings, but if you persevere until you regain what you have lost or recover as before, it must be a cool and respectable thing. In order to regain his freedom, Solomon made many efforts.
First of all, when he woke up to find himself betrayed into slavery, he was shocked and frightened, and he began to plan his escape. The two slaves around him attempted to flee the escort road, but failed in the end with the death of one slave and the return of one by his master.
Secondly, when he was sold to Ford, he was educated and came up with a very convenient way to work, so he was appreciated by the "master" Ford, but was also jealous of other white laborers.
At that time, the lives of slaves were not valuable, and white people had a natural skin color suppression of blacks, so Solomon was hanged by white laborers, and after being rescued by Ford, he told Ford that he was not a slave, hoping that he would help send letters to his family to get help.
Ford was kind and wanted to save Solomon's life; but he was also selfish and cowardly, he was afraid of taking responsibility, and he sold Solomon to another farmer, Epps, because of his debt. So this escape was also a failure.
In addition, he also borrowed the excuse of buying daily necessities for the hostess to escape; the escape plan such as using mulberries to make ink to write family letters, but all failed.
However, Solomon's tenacity has never diminished, and in order to get a chance to escape, he hides the fact that he is educated, pretends to be like an ordinary slave, and no longer blindly trusts others as before, and waits very carefully and patiently for the next escape.
Finally, after waiting for 12 years, Solomon met Buzz, a white carpenter from Canada, who was an abolitionist, and after the temptation, Solomon actively sought opportunities to work with Bath, and after getting acquainted with him, told Buzz about his situation and asked him to help bring letters to his family.
Bass was shocked to learn the news, but helped Solomon after calming down. Eventually, with the help of the governor of New York, he returned to his hometown and gained freedom.
Solomon knew the preciousness of freedom because he had lost his freedom, but also because of the strong desire and persistence in his heart for freedom, he finally regained his freedom after experiencing repeated failures.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="53" > third, other people's perspective on freedom thinking</h1>
Do not persuade others to be good without suffering. There are very few times in this world when empathy is felt, and even if two people are intimate, it is impossible to fully empathize with one person, so people with empathy are extremely precious.
Slaves were not uncommon in solomon's time, but the reason why Solomon was still so surprised when he was betrayed into slavery was actually because he did not believe that such a thing would happen to him.
At the beginning of the film, Solomon encounters a black man asking for help while shopping in the store, and Solomon looks indifferent, like everyone around him, thinking that he has nothing to do with him.
There is a very important supporting role in the film, Patsy, the black slave worker under Epps. She was young and beautiful, and a very capable girl, and she could easily pick 500 pounds when men could generally only pick 200 pounds of cotton a day.
If Pattassy were living in this day and age, she must be a very remarkable woman. But living under the dark slavery, her beauty and competence only attracted the covetousness of her master Epps and the jealousy of her mistress, Mrs. Epps.
Epps's feelings for Patricia are very complex and contradictory, on the one hand, as a human being, he is deeply attracted to this special creature with exuberant vitality, and has the most primitive human liking for him.
On the other hand, as a slave owner, he has a deep dislike and rejection of slaves. Ambivalently, Epps sexually abused Patrice.
At the same time, Mrs. Epps discovers her husband's special affection for the slave girl, and jealousy makes her almost kill Patrice. Poor Patty was suffering from double torture, and no one stepped forward to help her.
Although it is a personal choice, it is all human beings who suffer, because, like Solomon, everyone does not know when he becomes a fish on the chopping board, so maintaining attention and sympathy for the weak is the direction that each of us needs to work towards.
The cruelty of slavery is already well known, and great efforts have been made by predecessors for the emancipation of slaves.
But like the director's voice at the time of the award, this film is dedicated not only to the people who were once enslaved, but also to the people who still lose their freedom.
People have never put down their steps in the pursuit of freedom, and it is equally important to maintain respect for the freedom of others and the pursuit of self-freedom, and even if the road is difficult and dangerous, we can start together.