Half Slave, Half Free

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Dallas H @RT53171010 01/01/2025 I didn't realize this was the original adaptation of the 12 Years a Slave memoir. The production has the "made for television" value, but it is still an intriguing story. See more 05/25/2014 Better than 12 years a slave. See more 03/04/2014 A good story, but just total crap See more 12/15/2013 Starts out like an over acted play, slowly becomes an almost mystic chronicle. See more 07/17/2011 This movie was a major disappointment. I read the book when I was in college and was so blown away by the how powerful and unbelievable this story was that I wrote a screenplay hoping to one day make it into a film. I avoided this version so I wouldn't be influenced by it. The makers of this version just skimmed through any emotional connection to the audience. Performances were like rehearsals for a stage play. Too much of the film was fictionalized to no advantage. The character of "Noah" replaced the book's "Uncle Abram" and made him like some forest leprechaun who springs out of nowhere several times in the movie. I'm sure the producers had very little money to make the film -- a major challenge when trying to do a period film. But you don't scale back storytelling, performances, direction, or cinematography to the degree these guys did. The story of Solomon Northup deserves much better. Hopefully it can be tried again -- more successfully. See more Read all reviews

Half Slave, Half Free

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