Solomon Northup's famed description of being kidnapped from freedom in New York to slavery in Louisiana includes a description of Christmas revelry that shows how the enslaved preserved community and humanity, and a contrast to the yearly reality of fear and labor.
If the film is “true” to anything in the book,
it should be true to Northup’s voice, not his facts; that voice is what
makes “12 Years a Slave” so enduring.
