SLAVERY exists today; 12 Years a Slave, The Butler

Slavery was and is the greatest atrocity of civilization. An estimated 30 million people are enslaved in the world today.

Washington Post, OCt. 17, 2013

Here are some statistics:  60,000 in the U.S., 14,000,000 in India, 1 in 25 in Mauritania, 2.1% of children in Haiti. 

I was aware of this but remain abjectly astonished at the stunning reality of this today.  Surely makes the victory of Moses over the Egyptians relevant today.

I really couldn't talk about these films without going to this reality.

"The Butler" tells the story of a young field hand taken to be a food server.  His willingness and skill at anticipating what the white folks he serves require makes for a successful career as a butler in the White House.  

I really liked this film, though it felt like familiar material: submissive servant and rebellious son, the magnitude of the civil rights movement, the inside view of presidents. 

I wish that scriptwriters wouldn't suggest that all underlings are consulted and expected to speak for their "race/gender/class" in these films.  Surely these officials aren't that gauche.

The actors playing significant historical figures resemble them faintly, making for disappointment in scenes when the butler witnesses discussions with historical implications.

Still, a pair of bookend films that I'm glad I saw.

If I knew how brutal and  violent this film is I probably wouldn't have gone to see it. The book would have been preferable.

The film, like so many today, is based on an autobiography written by a free black man living in the North who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.  He endured 12 years of demeaning, dehumanizing life before his "papers" were finally obtained and he was freed by the sheriff.

Michael Fassbender plays the ghastly cruel sadistic slaveholder who whips and degrades his slaves. His performance is brave indeed, and I wonder how he was able to sustain himself as he portrayed this evil cruel man. 

Shown in highly naturalistic unrelenting loops, The scene in which Patsy is whipped is just horrible. I kept thinking to myself why it was that this torture scene was more repellent to me that images of Holocaust survivors, massacres, Italian neo-realism rapes and torture scenes…all of them. I loathe them all while respecting the artistic purpose which makes such films. 

We're never forgetting history, are we? Art does not let us, even if denial tries.