Originally an American Playhouse production filmed for television, director Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree, Shaft) powerful filming of the true story of a free man sold into slavery during the 1840s stars Avery Brooks as Solomon Northrup. A carpenter and fiddler, Northrup and his family lived in Saratoga Springs, New York, where Northrup occasionally took fiddling jobs at social functions to supplement the family income. On one such occasion, he is invited by a pair of well-dressed businessmen to play in Washington, D.C. Kidnapped, beaten, and shackled, Northrup is sold to slave trader Jim Birch, who, in turn, sells him to a Southern plantation owner. Brooks is excellent as Northrup, a cultured Northern gentleman who has to literally learn the ways and mannerisms of a slave in order to survive. Over the course of his twelve-year ordeal, Northrup is stripped of everything including his name (he is called Platt), but he never loses his human dignity. Throughout, director Parks continually avoids the trap of two-dimensional characterizations: there are noble slaves and vicious owners to be sure, but the film tackles more complex relationships too. When Northrup builds a raft for transporting logs downriver, thereby saving the plantation owner time and money, he feels an obvious pride in his creative problem-solving even as he continually broods on escaping an intolerable situation. A film of subtlety and nuance, Half Slave, Half Free: Solomon Northrup's Odyssey tells a compelling tale that is heartbreaking, uplifting, and always thought-provoking. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)
Half Slave, Half Free: Solomon Northrup's Odyssey
color. 113 min. Xenon Home Video. (1984). $59.95. Not rated Library Journal
Half Slave, Half Free: Solomon Northrup's Odyssey
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