12 Years a Slave

— “12 Years a Slave” deserve all the ballyhoo it’s gotten. It looks at slavery with a directness that’s unexpected and warranted. Chiwetel Ejiofor does an excellent job of portraying Solomon Northrup, the main character, with both dignity and hopelessness appropriate to the story. The audience is left to confront the reality of slavery, even if understanding it is impossible. Steve McQueen’s film is amazing and has moved to the top of the group of four very good films I’ve seen this fall (“Enough Said”, “Captain Phillips”, and “Gravity” are the other three). See it!

---

[2013. 134 min. Directed by Steve McQueen. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K. Williams, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/12-years-a-slave-movie-review-a-masterpiece-of-form-content-emotion-and-performance/2013/10/16/1b158e76-34e8-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html