12 Years a Slave

This is a film you watch with an sense of reverence. The fully deserved plaudits for its makers are one reason, the gravity of the subject matter the other. Throughout the film the sound in my ear was 'Gott' the first word uttered by Florestan at the start of his aria in Beethoven's masterpiece, Fidelio. Florestan was imprisoned as a result of an abuse of power and it was only the love of his wife that saved him. But it is the parallel of abuse that struck me most strongly. Let no one say that Magna Carta is irrelevant. Power is abused each and every day and this only happens because ordinary people like you and me do nothing.