Review: 12 Reasons to Watch ‘12 Years a Slave’ [Photos]

Based on a memoir written in 1853 by Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery, it's one of the few films that convey the experience of slavery from the slave's point of view. It is the most vivid and authentic portrayal of American slavery ever captured on screen and its sober presentation of bondage is interwoven with the universal themes of identity, betrayal, brutality and the need to keep faith in order to survive.