Incredible Story with Brilliant Lead Performance

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2013)

12 Years a Slave (2013)
*** (out of 4)
A rather remarkable true story about Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free Northern black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery where he spends twelve years away from his family and living in some of the worst conditions imaginable. 12 YEARS A SLAVE is a good to very good movie but I'm going to fall a little shy of calling it one of the year's best for a couple reasons. For starters, while the score itself is quite brilliant, with the film it just doesn't work. The score at times comes off way too over-dramatic and especially during the more shocking moments of the film where we see the slaves being beaten or worse. I personally feel that these scenes are so shocking and revolting on their own that there really wasn't a need for such an over-the-top and dramatic score to be blazing. Another problem I had is that there really wasn't a good flow to the picture or story as it just seemed like we were seeing vignettes put together to show various aspects of Northup's life. With that said, there's no question that Ejiofor delivers one of the year's greatest performance. I think the screenplay and story certainly give him a lot to work with but the actor does a marvelous job with it. There are so many different emotions to this character but the actor pulls them off remarkably. The character's whole thoughts on the slavery, how to react to certain situations and other obstacles are very much on display and it's terrific how Ejiofor is able to show the viewer how the character is thinking. The supporting cast has some major actors with Michael Fassbender doing a very good job at a rather evil slave owner. You've also got Lipita Nyong'o nearly stealing the film as Patsey, an abused slave. There's also Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard and Brad Pitt in smaller but memorable roles. Director Steve McQueen does a very good job at showing off the horrors of the slaves but I also liked some of the smaller scenes where we see Northup interacting with other slaves. There are some quiet moments scattered around the violence that are quite touching and bring a certain human touch to the various evils that we are seeing. While not perfect, 12 YEARS A SLAVE does tell a pretty remarkable story and it's worth seeing.