The "Best Picture" is not great

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2014)

I have every Best Picture on DVD so was awaiting the release of "12 Years as a Slave" to disk. I had already seen how highly awarded this movie was, so expected great things from this film. OK, I'll give that the acting was superb, from the title character to the lowliest of bit players. The story was both compelling and horrific. So with great acting and story, how could this fail but to be superb. Well, it drug in places. I thought maybe the excruciation of having the story move along so slowly was intentional, to give one a sense of the passage of time under evil tyranny, but it didn't work. The 60ish, psychedelic scene transitions: the paddle wheel and water reflections quite nearly and literally gave me a headache. Am I glad I watched it? Yes! In portions, I both was entranced and wholly appalled at the brutal treatment of an enslaved group of humans. In other parts, I was so bored that I felt like turning it off. I hate to say it, but Steve McQueen is a great actor, but not such a great director. See it, but prepare to be somewhat disappointed at what was deemed as the best picture of 2013 by so very many.