OSCAR! With a Caribbean touch.
“Everyone deserves not just to survive but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup. I dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery and 21 million people who still suffer slavery today,”

Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, winner of the best picture at the Oscars 2014- an addition to the Academy Award, Golden Globe and the BAFTA (British Academy Film and Television Arts).

McQueen, who was born in London, England of Trinidad and Tobago/Grenada parentage, established himself as a director of the highest order, and a filmmaker in keen pursuit of truth. Drawing on a shocking real-life story, 12 Years a Slave.

And producer Brad Pitt, served in a small but powerful role on the film, as a Canadian abolitionist.

“This film should be screened at school and some education places, because it shows a face of the human race…racism …is a plague!” posited Jean-Phillipe Polo on Facebook.

This must see movie takes the audience from mere acting to authenticity! You, too, will shed a tear or two.

McQueen thanked his wife who first showed him a copy of Northup’s original story for “unearthing this treasure for me.”

The iconic film is based on the story of a free New Yorker, Solomon Northup, a freeman making a living as a musician in 1841. After accepting a job offer from two men to play for a circus, he soon finds himself kidnapped, transported to the South and sold into slavery. Forced to take a new name, he is thrown together with other enslaved African Americans, each suffering the horrors of gruelling labour, daily humiliations and families torn apart. But for Northup, there is the added nightmare of remembering the freedom and identity he so recently enjoyed.

Working with the enormously talented Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northup, McQueen crafts a portrait of a man who refuses to let slavery extinguished his spirit. Denied the most basic human expression and subjected to brutal punishments whenever he asserts his freedom, he holds onto his dignity, writing down his story in secret.

Wow! O, happy night, as the brilliant and beautiful Lupita Nyong’o graced the Dolby Theatre during the Oscars, last Sunday in Los Angeles and held her award for the best actress in a supporting role for her debut film 12 Years a Slave. She brought reality to make belief.”No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid,” Lupita enthused.