12 years a slave

12 Years A Slave is based on a true story of Soloman Northup, a free man who was sold into slavery in 1841, and presents a solid picture of his journey. An important part of this films aesthetic is their usage in using a single camera approach. This single camera approach allows the audience to better concentrate instead of finding the scene. In the scene of the hanging of Soloman it brought very important visuals in the film. The horrors of being a slave is driven home. The audience gets a sense of the the passage of time and length of shots. I could personally feel pain and discomfort from this near death scene. It’s surreal that people during that time in history were so used to this lifestyle going on around them.