Where is Django when you need him?

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2014)

'12 Years a Slave' is a hard-hitting, honest film told passionately through the eyes of director Steve McQueen. It tells the true story of a free black man, Solomon Northup, who is abducted and sold into slavery. It is engaging and captivating and never relents for a second. It is very difficult to watch at times and never for the faint-hearted.
The only real issue it has is that it's rather unsatisfying. Unlike 2012's 'Django Unchained' this film doesn't circle back and wrap things up nice and neatly for us at the end. We are shown our main character, Northup, returned to his family, but never get any vengeance on the evil characters we have come to know and hate during the course of the film. In fact, text is even shown at the end of the film before the credits to confirm that no justice whatsoever was attained against the abductors or the slave owners. This is historically accurate and how the film needed to be told, there's no doubt about that. But it doesn't change the fact that it is unsatisfying.
The two choices for ending a film like this are either a win-win or a lose-lose for a director, depending on how you choose to look at it. Quentin Tarantino's approach of giving the audience an extremely gratifying ending, was much appreciated by his audiences and fit the narrative. But he was never going to win Best Picture with his film. McQueen takes the gritty approach, and whilst I know that I'd much rather watch 'Django Unchained' again over this any day of the week (for the above reasons), he's quite likely to get the most coveted prize of all, a Best Picture win at the Oscars. I'm not entirely sure which approach I'd prefer to take given the opportunity.
The acting is brilliant. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o were all outstanding and deserve their respective Oscar nominations. Nyong'o was probably the best of the lot for me and fittingly has the best chance of taking home the award. Ejiofor carries the film excellently and his final scene is exceedingly moving.
'12 Years a Slave' is quite likely to win Best Picture at the Oscars next month. As always there will be divided opinion over whether that should be the case. Personally, I don't think it is the best film out of the nominees, but it may just be the most important. There are a lot of 'based on a true story' nominees up for Best Picture this year, but it's safe to say none of those stories will hit you anywhere near as hard as this one will.