12 Years a Slave

With many of the less mainstream actors deservedly earning the recognition, it’s easy to forget the big names that round out the great cast in 12 Years a Slave. But this isn’t a movie about star power. The film tells the true story of a free black man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) from New York in the mid-1800s who is abducted and sold into slavery in the south. As an educated man who has known freedom, the film gives a different perspective than usually seen in movies addressing slavery. Plus, director Steve McQueen does a tremendous job elevating an already emotional script.

Ejiofor, who is no stranger to strong performances, handles the weight of the film well. With the attention it is getting, this is the role of a lifetime and he never struggles adapting the frequent emotional changes his character goes through from scene to scene. Relative newcomer Luptia Nyong’o provides the most intense performance as an abused slave. Beyond those two, the cast is a parade of familiar names that don’t always fit as well as you’d think. Paul Giamatti sells the main character to Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays a “nice” slave owner; Michael Fassbender plays a mean one. Paul Dano works for Cumberbatch’s character and then Brad Pitt shows up at Fassbender’s to build a gazebo. The list is just huge. Of that group, Fassbender is the most memorable as a God-fearing, abusive southerner, who is essentially the stereotype for what a slave owner was. He isn’t predictable however and does well to make the character unique.

The film is paced with emotional turmoil and small victories that keep the audience from going through the story in a full depression. The character is a strong protagonist grappling with the morality of lying low while injustice is done to him. The supporting characters all partake in that injustice under the laws of the time. Slavery is a tough period to cover in a film since there is an innate want to paint the antebellum south as a population of brutal monsters. 12 Years a Slave doesn’t do that. Instead a well-crafted, look at injustice during that time is presented.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.