Will Smith plays a real historical figure: Peter, a black man who escaped from the slavery of the slave owner in the southern United States after suffering torture, and the protagonist of the famous "evidence" photo of American slavery. The style of the film is described as more like "Apocalypse" directed by Mel Gibson than "12 Years a Slave". Willam N. Collage wrote the script, and the story comes from Peter's real experience: he escaped from the slave owner, endured the pursuit of cold-blooded hunters and the dangerous swamps of Louisiana, and went all the way north. When he escaped to the Northern Army and was examined, Peter showed his back with scars from being whipped by the overseer in the plantation. This scene was photographed into the famous photo "The Scourged Back", which was published in the Independent in May 1863 and the Harper's Weekly on July 4 of that year. The photo became one of the evidences of the cruel atrocities of slavery in the United States. After its release, it promoted the abolition movement and prompted many free blacks to join the Union Army. The photo spread around the world. It was rumored that the photo caused countries such as France to refuse to buy cotton from the American South.