Recent Films such as Django
Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino and former Turner prize winner
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years have brought the horrific history of
slavery into focus. Talking at the Toronto press conference of the film McQueen
stated that “It’s one thing to read about slavery, to have these illustrations
– but when you see it on celluloid and within a narrative, it does something
different starts a conversation, wonderful, excellent, it’ll be about time…
Yes, race is involved, but it goes beyond that.” In fact McQueen goes even
further stating that the film, which includes harrowing scenes of extreme
violence, is a “film about love…there is a lot of pain in love sometimes and
you have to get through it. It’s the journey of Solomon Northup, who gets back
to his family.”
