A journey worth of 12 years of emotions

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2016)

12 Years a Slave, which is directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, a free man from the state of New York, who in just one day loses his freedom and becomes a slave in the southern states. The movie will take you on a emotional journey, because the movie doesn't restrain itself from showing a lot of graphic violence. The violence depicted in the movie is not the only factor that causes emotional distress, Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance is also a huge contributor, probably this is his most memorable performance yet, he is really absorbed into the character, the best example for this are his eyes, on which you can notice a lot of sorrow. His performance receives a lot of help from the supporting cast, which also does a terrific job, especially Michael Fassbender as a slave owner, named Edwin Epps and Lupita Nyong'o as a slave, named Patsy. Both of them play an important role in the emotional journey of Solomon. Fassbender is simply terrifying in his role, the character's dementia is clearly visible. The supporting cast also helps Ejiofor to capture the passing of time, the change of mentality of his character is totally visible, owing to their help. Steve McQueen's direction is also brilliant, he captures some tough moments, where he shows that how easily life went on for some despite living in a hell. He also finds a lot of beauty in this hell, the movie having a huge amount of breathtaking imagery, which in my opinions shows that, earth is not hell, but we the humans make it to seem so. The movie has a minor problem too, Solomon Northup's life before the slavery is not shown enough, if it had been shown more, it would've given the viewers more to absorb and the motivation of the character, would've been even more visible. Overall the movie is a masterpiece, that sometimes is pretty hard to follow owing to its graphic nature, but after someone succeeds in sitting through the whole movie, he'll have a lot to think of and things are just worsened by its haunting score, that will remain deeply graved in your memory after leaving your seat.