This suggests that people of color do not have the ability to save themselves. Although Solomon asks a white Canadian worker to help him regain his freedom, in these times it would have been difficult or impossible to regain his freedom without the help of a white person. This in no way reinforces the idea of ​​the great white savior because it was Solomon who overcame the struggle to survive, which allowed him to regain his freedom. Solomon Northup in the film starts out as a free man with a family, educated, refined and plays the violin. He is then kidnapped and when he tries to protest that he is a free man he is brutally beaten, stripped of his clothes, his possessions and his name. His resilience and his fight to maintain his dignity and respect are what ultimately got him there