12 Years In Hell

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2014)

Steve McQueen's '12 Years A Slave' tells the story of accomplished cellist Solomon Northopp who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The film grabs your attention from the very start, involving you into the nightmare that Ejiofor's Solomon goes through. The viewer feels for Solomon right away but when his fellow victims are introduced, he/she is further horrified seeing how much worse off these people, including a mother and her two children sold off separately and a young woman forced to becoming a sex slave and forced laborer, are than Northopp and that there's no hope for them.
'12 Years a Slave' is craftfully made. There's some fine cinematography and lighting. Music is used efficiently. In my opinion the best scenes are the ones that had no music or dialogue. For example, the scene where poor Solomon is hang to a tree and left there with his toes barely touching the earth. No dialogue, no music but the rawness of that scene and the 'bystanders' getting along with their day-to-day life in the background is brutally effective.
Chiwetel Ejiorfor is sensational and hopefully this film gives him the recognition he deserves. Lupita Ngong'o is equally stunning and raw. Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulsen are wonderful. Brad Pitt is the weakest link. The actor doesn't impress and his role should have been cut down. Moreover, it doesn't help that hes given preachy dialogue.
The pacing is a little uneven. Some shots just focus too much on faces, for no apparent reasons (nor does this add anything except more running time) and it's rather distracting. Some of the characters come off as one-dimensional.
'12 Years A Slave' is not one of the finest films but it is well shot, scored and wonderfully acted.