00:02I wanted to tell a story about slavery
00:04and I wanted to find
00:06an interesting angle into the narrative
00:08and I thought about a free man
00:10a man who has a family
00:12who's kidnapped into slavery
00:13and the reason why I chose this angle is I wanted
00:15that person to be everyone in the audience
00:18and as I was thinking about the idea
00:19my wife found this book called Twelve Years a Slave
00:22and there it was
00:23Solomon Northup is my name
00:33Solomon Northup was a free black man
00:35in Saratoga, New York
00:37in the middle of the 19th century
00:39and he's a musician
00:41and he's in a place where he
00:43has a sense of equality
00:45Mr. Northup
00:46I have two gentlemen whose acquaintance you should make
00:50and in 1841
00:51he was lured
00:53by two sort of showmen
00:56with the prospect of earning some money
00:58by playing music for their shows
00:59we could give you one dollar for each day's services
01:02and three dollars for every night played at our performances
01:05Solomon agrees to go and play
01:06with these two guys
01:07when they get to Washington
01:08they have a sort of celebratory dinner
01:11he feels very ill
01:16goes to bed
01:17and he wakes up
01:18chained in a dungeon
01:22well boy
01:23how you feel now?
01:25and that's the beginning
01:26of what happens to him
01:27you ain't a free man
01:29you're nothing but a Georgia runaway
01:33come on, move it
01:35he shipped himself to New Orleans
01:37and his reality is
01:40I mean, everything is new to him
01:41my name's not Platt
01:42my name
01:43your name is Platt
01:44his name has changed
01:46his paper's taken away from him
01:47all identification lost
01:49and he ends up sold into slavery
01:52you see things through his eyes
01:54you experience the environment
01:56and the cruelty and the brutality
01:57and the dehumanization of people
01:59on that journey
01:59we've all felt that there's never been
02:02a film about slavery
02:04that really dealt with it
02:05in such an unflinching way
02:07and the perspective of coming from
02:09outside of it
02:11someone who's not exposed
02:12and is suddenly thrown into this world
02:15we can all identify with
02:16a thousand for Platt
02:18my fairest price
02:19Mr. Chapin
02:20yes sir
02:20you can take these two up to the mill
02:22start working
02:23when Solomon gets onto the slave plantations
02:25you know, he has
02:25really essentially three different slave masters
02:28all of whom
02:29treat him in different ways
02:31I am the god of Abraham
02:33the god of Isaac
02:34and the god of Jacob
02:35you have in the character of Ford
02:37someone who is
02:38a kind of benevolent figure
02:41who wants to be compassionate
02:43my great thanks
02:45Master Ford
02:46my thanks to you
02:47then you have someone like Edwin Epps
02:50who is just
02:51essentially a sadist
02:52a very brutal person
02:54man does how he pleases with his property
02:56and then you have figures
02:59like Judge Turner
03:00who is a sort of
03:01mysterious figure
03:02what you earn
03:03is yours to keep
03:04but what is consistent
03:06is this idea
03:07that they know
03:08that there is something
03:09different about him
03:11just inherently
03:12they're aware of it
03:13and they all feel
03:15that it is something
03:16that they need to destroy
03:18I will have flesh
03:20and I will have all of it
03:22he was clearly very intelligent
03:24and he recognized very quickly
03:26that his life
03:27could be snatched away from him
03:29on any given day
03:30and so
03:31I think he felt like
03:33the strongest thing he could do
03:34was to stay alive
03:35and that if he stayed alive long enough
03:37perhaps he would
03:39find his way out
03:41Solomon realized that
03:42you know
03:43there's a possibility
03:44of him seeing his family
03:45get a yell strong
03:46the events are astonishing
03:47and cruel
03:48I survive
03:51I will not fall into despair
03:53I will offer up my talents
03:54to master thought
03:55I will keep myself hearty
03:57till freedom is opportune
03:59for Solomon
04:00a lot of this journey
04:01is not just that journey
04:03to get home
04:03but really that journey
04:05to understand
04:05the importance
04:07of the privileges
04:08that we all enjoy
04:09as Americans
04:09but also our families
04:13there's a modesty
04:14but a certain kind of formality
04:15to him
04:16it's beautiful
04:17it's heartbreaking
04:17the book is a testament
04:19to Solomon North
04:20but also about
04:21a testament to the history
04:22of what was going on
04:24within slavery
04:24at that time
04:33my ancestors were slaves
04:35they're from the Caribbean
04:36and it was just one of those things
04:38where within film
04:39it was never given
04:40some kind of platform
04:41it kind of deserves
04:43as an important historical event
04:45especially in the United States
04:47I just wanted to make a movie
04:48about it
04:48for me it was
04:49it was nonsensical
04:50it was obvious
04:51it was logical
04:51and cut
04:52cutting
04:53this is a story
04:56about one of the harshest structures
04:58that's ever been created
05:00in the history of the world
05:02and it is somebody
05:04trying to survive that
05:06with their mind intact
05:08and they do
05:10you know
05:11and I feel like
05:12that's an extraordinary
05:12thing to see
05:14to witness
05:14and to be
05:15kind of part of
05:17and
05:18and
05:18and
05:18and
05:18Grazie a tutti.
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