A must see - heart breaking

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2013)

If you think you already seen enough of slavery on screen this year with Django, think again. This movie is completely effective because it's a true story of a free black man kidnapped into slavery. The film is direct and very personal in its photography and direction. The scenes of the brutality feel terrifyingly real. Every whip or beating has impact. The jumping back and forth in time in the beginning though not too confusing wasn't necessary. The story has a varied mix of good and evil white folk and plantation owners and the different types of sufferings both male and female that the slaves endured.
The acting is excellent. Chiwetel Ejiofor who has always been good at acting worried and sad in other movies like Tsunami the Aftermath is very good here. He doesn't over do it and makes it believable. Of the other slaves, Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey with her pure African looks is perfectly cast and her acting is convincing the scenes of her beating and rape are heart breaking and hard to forget. In contrast with the horrors, the photography of the plantations and Louisiana bayous is very scenic and evocative. Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulson as evil plantation owners are better than expected. Casting of Paul Dano and Paul Giamatti wasn't so good. They came across as good guys playing bad ones for this role.
Although the subject matter is so depressing and sad, this movie is surprisingly watchable. The brutality is never for the sake of violence but serves to move forward the plot. One of the best movies on slavery made to date.