Horrifying but not without cause

Rating: 10/10 (3 December 2013)

"12 Years A Slave" is horrifying but not without cause. The film drives on it's sense of hopelessness and despair without letting the audience be blinded by it. Underneath all of the treachery there is thought provoking yet silent commentary delivered by a mix of emotional acting, score and well thought out pacing. This film places it's viewers in a harsh and realistic adaptation of 1850's America and reveals to it the stinging reality of race inequality and prejudice that was sewn into the culture of the time. One of the things that really helps sell the time period is the phenomenal performances given by the lead and supporting cast. Whether it be the overwhelmingly sad yet subtle acting of Chiwetel Ejiofor, the tyrannical insanity shown by Michael Fassbender or the sometimes unexpected range of Cumberbatch, Giamatti, Dano and many other actors makes everything feel authentic and uninhibited. All of this is set up against the backdrop of a beautiful score that, though simple, can manage to instill you with bursts of unbridled dread or overwhelming feelings of sorrow, it manages this without ever getting in the way of the storytelling. The music plays when it feels right and doesn't when it's not needed. The cinematography is fantastic. Using the lush natural environment as a transition between scenes is often very impactful due to the settings lack of conflict in a rather violent world set up for us by the filmmaker. There are many scenes which linger for a very long time forcing you to take in and contemplate what just happened, paving the way for larger emotional effect in following events, many of these scenes mainly focus on the turmoil of the protagonist in nearly complete silence even if these moments aren't very vicious or adrenaline inducing, they still exude a feeling of faint suspense while building an empathetic connection between the audience and the lead character. In conclusion, though this movie may be brutal, unforgiving and heart breaking there is an underlying beauty, sincerity and hopefulness that make this film one of the most thoughtful, eye opening and important films made in recent memory. this is a motion picture you simply must experience.