History YMMV / TwelveYearsASlave

** [[IronicName Freeman]] hosts a large slave auction, [[HumanTraffickers representing the worst of the business side of slavery]]. Selling mass quantities of slaves to the wealthy, [[WouldHurtAChild children included]], Freeman shows how [[EvilIsPetty petty]] he can be when he sells the slave Eliza's son despite her pleas, then spitefully separates her from the rest of her kids. Freeman even [[SexSlave plans to prostitute Eliza's 8-year-old daughter]] after taking notice of her "beauty".

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Edwin Epps]] is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given many lashes]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the [[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]] this means to him.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given many lashes]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[TheSociopath monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: This a movie that was well-received enough to earn several Oscars, but damn if it isn't difficult to sit through.

** [[CompleteMonster Edwin Epps]] crossed it numerous times throughout the movie, such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Patsey]] and his callous disregard towards his slaves' lives. The most evil things that Epps did were spurred by [[DisproportionateRetribution sheer pettiness]], such as chasing Northup with a knife when he heard him talk to Patsey and [[spoiler:forcing Northup to whip Patsey while threatening to shoot him and the other slaves if he didn't. When Northup is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone overwhelmed with guilt]], Epps snatches away the whip and beats the poor woman until her back is covered in {{Gorn}}.]]

* RealismInducedHorror: The film's horror comes from its largely accurate depiction of how gruesome slavery was.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The slaves coming across the group of Native Americans. It's never brought up again, nor a part of the story. The point was made however: two groups hindered and pained by the same one. No words needed utterance. Their faces said it all.

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* MoralEventHorizon: The barbaric and abusive treatment towards the slaves, with a few noteworthy examples of the horizon being crossed:

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given many lashes]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* HilariousInHindsight: Both Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor (Solomon) and Creator/BenedictCumberbatch (Mister Ford) have played in roles where they were engaged/married to Creator/KeiraKnightley's character (Chiewetel in ''Film/LoveActually'' and Benedict in ''Film/TheImitationGame).''

* RealismInducedHorror: The film's horror because it is a genuine depiction of how gruesome slavery was.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than the average of 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given many lashes]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* AwardSnub: Despite winning the majority of the awards from the critics' circle and the Screen Actors' Guild, Creator/LupitaNyongo lost the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress to Creator/JenniferLawrence for her performance in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. It doesn't help that there was a rivalry between the fans of the two actresses on who wins at the Oscars. Averted, later on, when Lupita won the Oscar, though the same can't be said for Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor (who won the BAFTA) and Creator/MichaelFassbender's highly acclaimed performances.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The slaves coming across the group of Native Americans. It's never brought up again, nor a part of the story. The point was made however: two groups hindered and pained by the same one. No words needed utterance. Their faces said it all.
** A female slave [[spoiler:forcing herself on Solomon]] in the middle of the night. This is never brought up again other than to contribute to the movie's RRatedOpening.

* SignatureScene: Solomon on his tiptoes for hours on end to avoid hanging to death. It's a metaphor for the entire movie and is disturbing on so many levels.

* TheWoobie: Patsey. In her first few minutes onscreen, Mistress Epps throws a crystal decanter at her face, and she later claws the spot that she hit on her face. And it only gets worse from there as Master Epps' obsession with her escalates [[spoiler: into rape and a particularly brutal whipping.]]

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than the average of 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given many lashes]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him. And as hard as it is to believe, ''[[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the real Edwin Epps was WORSE!]]''

* AwardSnub: Despite winning the majority of the awards from the critics' circle and the Screen Actors' Guild, Creator/LupitaNyongo lost a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress to Creator/JenniferLawrence for her performance in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. It doesn't help that there was a rivalry between the fans of the two actresses on who wins at the Oscars. Averted, later on, when Lupita won the Oscar, though the same can't be said for Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor (who won BAFTA) and Creator/MichaelFassbender's highly acclaimed performances.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given the lash]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him. And as hard as it is to believe, ''[[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the real Edwin Epps was WORSE!]]''

* AwardSnub: Despite winning the majority of the awards from the critics' circle and the Screen Actors' Guild, Creator/LupitaNyongo lost a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress to Creator/JenniferLawrence for her performance in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. It doesn't help that there was a rivalry between the fans of the two actresses on who wins at the Oscars. Averted, later on, when Lupita won the Oscar, though the same can't be said for Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor (who won Bafta) and Creator/MichaelFassbender's highly acclaimed performances.

** Every moment of the scene where [[spoiler:Epps punishes Patsey. Solomon is forced by Epps to whip her, and he's clearly disturbed at the thought of harming his friend, yet does so anyway. Eventually, Epps gets impatient and threatens to kill him if he doesn't whip harder, [[SadisticChoice so he tries to whip her as hard as he can]], but Epps eventually runs out of patience and whips Patsey in the most sadistic manner possible. The next scene has Patsey crying from the pain covering her [[{{Squick}} bloody, scarred back]], while Solomon breaks his violin out of guilt. It becomes even more tear-jerking when you realise that the violin was a gift from William Ford ([[TokenGoodTeammate the only white person who treated him well so far]]) and he had carved his family's names on the violin as mentioned earlier, meaning that [[DespairEventHorizon Solomon's hope was destroyed alongside the violin]].]]

%%** Solomon Northup as well, obviously.

* CatharsisFactor: While neither the book nor the film mentions this, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty karma eventually caught up with the Epps couple.]] Patsey survived and was ultimately rescued by Union troops in 1863[[note]]Her precise fate is unknown, but at least she got away[[/note]], [[RichesToRags the plantation collapsed and the family became impoverished,]] and Yellow fever sent them both to hell in 1867.

* WhatAnIdiot: Northup didn't tell his wife where he was going after agreeing to becoming an entertainer. Granted he wasn't expecting to get kidnapped, but it still would have been sensible in case something went wrong. If he ''had'' done that, it's probable he would have been freed from slavery much earlier.

** Solomon Northup as well, obviously.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given the lash]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsey and later in the film forces [[TheHero Solomon Northup]] to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsey until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* AngstAversion: While its quality as a film is unquestionable, and while it's [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped certainly an unflinching look at the horrors of slavery]], some people find the pain and cruelty so overwhelming as to make the film nearly unbearable.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film pulls absolutely no punches in showing just [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil how horrific a practice slavery was]] but, much like ''Film/SchindlersList'', it's a story where anything less would have been a disservice.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Based on the ''real'' Solomon Northup's memoir of the same name, which was published a full 160 years before the movie was made.

* HarsherInHindsight: Patsey getting raped is even worse when one considers that the actress playing her was violated by Harvey Weinstein, and that the career that propelled her into a Hollywood star would also make her come into contact with him.

* AwardSnub: Despite winning the majority of the awards from the critics' circle and the Screen Actors' Guild, Creator/LupitaNyongo lost a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress to Creator/JenniferLawrence for her performance in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. It doesn't help that there was a rivalry between the fans of the two actresses on who wins at the Oscars. Averted, later on, when Lupita won the Oscar, but Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor did not win for his.

** [[CompleteMonster Edward Epps]] crossed it numerous times throughout the movie, such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Patsey]] and his callous disregard towards his slaves' lives. The most evil things that Epps did were spurred by [[DisproportionateRetribution sheer pettiness]], such as chasing Northup with a knife when he heard him talk to Patsey and [[spoiler:forcing Northup to whip Patsey while threatening to shoot him and the other slaves if he didn't. When Northup is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone overwhelmed with guilt]], Epps snatches away the whip and beats the poor woman until her back is covered in {{Gorn}}.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Epps' actor, Michael Fassbender, has a rather disturbing interpretation that Epps is actually in love with Patsey and abuses her because he doesn't know any proper way to express it.

* AwardSnub: Despite winning the majority of the awards from the critics' circle and the Screen Actors' Guild, Lupita Nyong'o lost a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress to Creator/JenniferLawrence for her performance in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. It doesn't help that there was a rivalry between the fans of the two actresses on who wins at the Oscars. Averted, later on, when Lupita won the Oscar, but Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor did not win for his.