12 years a slave

Slowly becoming a famous face of the industry director Steve McQueen, famous for his realistic and gritty depictions of life, has never truly found recognition despite two hugely powerful releases. By far the most commercial of his films and clearly out for Oscar attention is his new film 12 years a slave, based on the novel about a free man kidnapped into slavery, which shows to be his best film yet, stuffed with unbelievable performances and power.

Living free with his family Solomon Northup is kidnapped and sold into slavery, the film follows his journey from plantation to plantation and his struggle to survive. 12 years a slave is no easy watch and unsurprisingly so considering its heavy subject matter however what makes this film different is its total upfront honesty which it has with its audience, never shying away from the truth to settle the audience's feelings, always putting us in front of the events with no buffer or filter. This realism and accurate depiction of real events makes the audience question the morality of humans and the ever changing ideologies which we hold. Despite following real events to a key, 12 years a slave doesn't really show tell us anything that we didn't know before about slavery, following a linear path to artistic merit but not perhaps to truly exciting levels. At times when the story slows however the audience is still left captivated, most notably by the truly unbelievable performances from the WHOLE cast, every single person in this film is worthy of some sort of recognition, and to single out one person would be dis-credit to another, the captivating performances of the cast engage the audience fully within the narrative and make us believe even more vividly the horrific actions of the past. Horrific is only one word to describe some scenes in the film, being so harrowing that it's hard to watch, this is aided by the fantastic cinematography which adds depth and meaning to the on screen violence and emotional discomfort.

Being more than worthy of awards praise 12 years a slave is perhaps the best documentation of slavery ever put together on film, recreating images from the novel so brutal and realistic that the shocking content is hard to ignore. All this narrative is brought to life through the emotionally detailed performances of the cast who supply one of the best showcase's of acting talent ever seen in the history of cinema, 12 years a slave is a hypnotic piece of art.

9/10- A relentless view on slavery which brandishes its impact on the brain.

Calum Russell