12 Years a Slave Review

12 years a slave is a historical drama film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyongo. The movie is also directed by Steve McQueen.

The movie is based on the memoirs entitled 12 Years a slave written by Solomon Northup.

So the film is set in 1841 where slavery is still quite common in the United States. Solomon Northup however, is an African American and he is a free man who is also a violinist by trade.

However, he is kidnapped and sold into slavery, where he spends 12 years being a slave with no one knowing his true identity.

Now this is an amazing film. It’s historically accurate, the performances are just astounding and it really emphasises that cruelty of that time. It shows just how terrible these poor people suffered and it’s amazing how they survived once you see the hardships they went through.

While talking about performances, let’s talk about Lupita Nyongo. She’s a Kenyan actress, and she won numerous awards for her performance in this film and for good reason. Her acting was really top notch. She is able to bring you into the scene, you can just feel her pain and it’s these little nuances that will make her a big shot in Hollywood.

Now I must warn that this film is really brutal. It does show the really ugly side of humanity, the dark side of history. Think of it as Django Unchained, just completely stripped of its wit and humour. What you’re left with is something cold, bare, realistic and extremely powerful.

So with that, 12 Years a Slave gets a liberating 9 out of 10

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