I'll keep it short

Rating: 2/10 (10 January 2014)

Where to begin? OK, by stating the simple facts.
The history here is distorted beyond all measure. 21st century sensibilities, seen through the lens of sterilized political correctness, make this film practically unwatchable from beginning to the (oh will it ever come?) end. Every white character is a one dimensional pastiche of evil while, conversely, it's only black people who possess anything approaching morality and basic human decency. It wears out and wears thin very rapidly indeed.
Steve McQueen - a director whose previous work I admired - got this film all wrong. He needed to do many things to put this film on the right track from the get go. But, most of all, he needed to work with a script which had its roots in reality, not in this distorted, oddly perverse and, frankly, unworthy representation of antebellum America. It's a shame and a sham yet it could have been a great story. Truly awful, but I gave it 2 stars - the extra one because, thank heavens, Oprah is not in it.