Solomon Northup and History on Film

The history major in me really wants to see the new movie 12 Years a Slave. I studied American history for my degree, with special interest in 19th century and African-American history, and according to all the reviews of this movie that I've seen, it's stellar. But...I'm a very sensitive soul, and I have an especially hard time with visual depictions of graphic violence, (of which this movie is full, naturally), so I'm not sure I'd be able to stomach it. It's upsetting enough to read about that era, but actually seeing the atrocities of that time played out...you as a viewer are sharing in the psychic trauma of that cruelty. And I realize that that is part of the point, that, at least in stories like this one, it's important to understand that these things really did happen to real people.

For me, that was the main reason I was drawn to history to begin with, for what it can teach us about empathy and its lack, and about the heights and depths of human nature, played out in the microcosm of individual lives. History is full of truly awful things, though, and reading about them, while disturbing, at least keeps them at enough of an emotional remove so that you can think about them without breaking down completely. Film, on the other hand, erases that emotional distance from the violence so you are right there, complicit as a spectator to whatever depravity the actors are portraying. Usually in historical films, the violence is of course depicted as wrong and terrible, but still, to me it seems...at least ironic, if not hypocritical, that at the same time the filmmaker is decrying such violence in his/her art, he/she is also inflicting a similar (albeit lesser) kind of violence on viewers by forcing them to witness such barbarity. (I am just speaking generally here - since I haven't seen 12 Years a Slave, I can't really comment on specific portrayals of violence in that film.)

Anyhow getting on to my other reason for posting about this: Even though I'm on the fence about the new movie I am actually already familiar with the story of Solomon Northup...because there is another film version from PBS. It's been at least 15 years, but I know I saw it at some point in my public school career...I am thinking it must have been in middle school. It's called Solomon Northup's Odyssey and it was made in 1984 starring Avery Brooks (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088148/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 While there I'm sure there's no comparison to the acting and cinematography in 12 Years a Slave, the story is still powerful enough to make an impression. It certainly made an impression on me, because I remember a surprising amount about it for not having seen it for almost two decades. SO if you are a parent or teacher of older pre-teen or teenage children that you would rather not expose to graphic violence but would like them to know the Solomon Northup story, or if you are just an especially sensitive adult like me, if you do some hunting you may be able to dig up this old version of the story. I found a VHS listing for it in my county library system. Inexplicably, I also found it half of it on YouTube, but only "Part B." :( I don't know if Part A was deleted or never added. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHOb9yhobws

Of course, after all this rumination, if that's still too hard to find, you could just skip both movie versions and go straight to the source by reading his autobiography. (Or listening to the audiobook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ILc8W0P3Y) Reading FTW!