12 Years to Freedom.

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2015)

12 Years A Slave (2013): Dir: Steve McQueen / Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt: Emotionally powerful film about a life torn from its normality and thrust into extreme oppression. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a carpenter and fiddle player who is sold into slavery after being misled into another gig. Away from his family he keeps to himself yet still receives brutal treatment by those whom see him as property to do with as will. Set in 1841 director Steve McQueen addresses individuals who were freed and taken from their lives in the name of greed and corruption. He previously directed Shame another film about an individual trapped in a lifestyle with hopes of escape. Ejiofor holds strong during the tough times yet striving with the hope of eventually regaining his freedom. Michael Fassbender plays a racist plantation owner named Edwin Epps whose wife is jealous with his constant sexual flings with Patsey, one of the slave girls. Lupita Nyong'o plays Patsey, in constant pain with several sexual assaults as well as abuse from Epps's wife. She is eventually whipped nearly to death with Epps forcing Solomon to do the deed. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Solomon's first owner who tries to protect his interest but eventually has to sell him to Epps. Brad Pitt plays a listening and sympathetic ear that results in him taking a risk to do what is right. Director McQueen creates an emotionally draining film that really captures the era and one man's strong hold of twelve years before his hope becomes a reality. Score: 10 / 10