Top 10 Movies that Deal with the Issue of Slavery

By Natalie Hagan, Exhibit/Special Projects Coordinator

10. Taken (2009)

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a
former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his daughter, Kim
(Maggie Grace).  His worst fears become
real when pimps abduct Kim and her friend shortly after they arrive in Paris
for vacation. With just four days until Kim will be auctioned off, Bryan must
call on every skill he learned in black ops to rescue her.

9. Glory (1989)

Following the Battle of Antietam,
Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) is offered command of the United
States’ first all-African-American regiment, the 54^th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry. With Junior Officer Cabot Forber (Cary Elwes), Shaw puts
together a strong and proud unit, including an escaped slave, Trip (Denzel
Washington), and the wise gravedigger John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). At first
limited to menial manual tasks, the regiment fights to the heat of battle.

8. The Help (2011)

In 1960s Mississippi, southern
society girl Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college with dreams of being a
writer. She turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black
women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Only
Aibileen (Viola Davis), the housekeeper of Skeeter’s best friend, will talk at
first. But as the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come
forward, and as it turns out, they have quite a lot to say.

7. Beloved (1987)

In 1873 Ohio, Sethe (Oprah
Winfrey) is a mother of three, haunted by her horrific slavery past and her
desperate actions for freedom.  As a
result, Sethe’s home is haunted by a furious poltergeist, which drives away her
two sons. Sethe and her daughter (Kimberly Elise) endure living with the spirit
for 10 more years, until an old friend, Paul D. Garner (Danny Glover), arrives
to run it out. After Garner moves in, a strange woman named Beloved (Thandie
Newton) enters their lives, causing turmoil.

6. Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011)

Exodus Cry

Nefarious is a critically-acclaimed, award-winning documentary on
the global modern-day slavery trade. The film demonstrates how millions of
women and children around the world are increasingly becoming the expendable pawns
of the demand for forced labor.

5. Half the Sky (2012)

The Filmmakers

Half the Sky is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to
bear witness to the plight of the world’s women, but to help to transform their
oppression into opportunity.  This
documentary passionately contents that our future is in the hands of women
everywhere.  (Now available on Netflix.)

4. Not My Life (2011)

Worldwide Documentaries

Not My Life comprehensively depicts the cruel and dehumanizing
practices of human tricking and modern slavery on a global scale. Filmed on
five continents, in a dozen countries, Not
My Life takes viewers into a world where millions of children are exploited
through an astonishing array of practices, including forced labor, sexual
exploitation and child soldiering.

3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1987)

Showtime Entertainment

This adaptation of the Harriet
Beecher Stowe novel follows the adventures of a group of slaves in the 19^th
century American South. When Eliza (Phylicia Rashad) hears that she and
her son will be separated despite a promise to the contrary, she flees the
planation on which she’s a slave, leaving behind her friend Tom (Avery Brooks).
Their story splits, following Tom as he clings to faith in the face of immense
cruelty, while Eliza and her son try to survive and remain together despite the
odds.

2. Django Unchained (2012)

Columbia Pictures

Two years before the Civil War,
Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, finds himself accompanying an unorthodox German
bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) on a mission to capture
the vicious Brittle brothers. Their mission successful, Schultz frees Django,
and together they hunt the South’s most-wanted criminals. Their travels take
them to the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio),
where Django’s long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) is still a slave.

1. 12
Years a Slave (2013)

Fox Searchlight Pictures

In the years before Civil War,
Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is
kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one
malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from
another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his
dignity. Then in the 12^th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance
meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon’s life forever.