12 Years A Slave
A deep and ponderous re-telling of a true story of kidnap, slavery, racism, inhuman brutality and the misery of the human condition. Not the typical Hollywood outpouring of wise-cracking characters and unnecessarily loud bangs, it delves into the hopelessness of life on the plantations in the deep Southern states of America.
Brilliantly acted and directed, 12 Years A Slave well deserves the accolades and positive critique laid upon it, BUT... have we actually learned anything from it?
What does it say about a country that only past a black civil rights bill approx 50 years ago? That educates its citizens on how Mr Lincoln freed the slaves; how the racist South should be forever held in shameful regard for their single-handed perpetration of the dehumanisation of millions of black slaves and their descendants; and how important lessons have been learned and human rights put into statute, so that never again should the beast in human nature rise to dominate another.
... a bit like how America settled its account with 100 million dead Indians..
The Boarding School System
Forced Sterilisations
Forced Assimilation
Enforced Poverty
Institutionalised Racism
State Sponsored Forced Adoption
...... and on it goes....
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