Eye-Opening & Engrossing

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2014)

In my ignorance, I never even knew that a 'trade' existed in kidnapping black people from the enlightened northern states and literally shipping them south to the plantations as slave labour. Kudos alone to McQueen for bringing this hidden fact to the attention of the masses.
Opening up with a fast forward peek at enslavement for the main character sort of stole the thunder of a dramatic build-up from civilised member of society to capture and uncivilised enslavement but that's the director's prerogative I guess?
The comparison with the more recent Django Unchained is automatic and this movie wins hands down in that you just know it is grittier and more realistic. There's no horse-rider doing a horse-shoe shuffle (?) at the end of this movie!
This movie will be a front-runner for an Oscar. Less deserving movies have scooped the Oscar in recent years, but it's under more serious competition from a raft of good movies this year?