MOVIE REVIEW: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

“12 YEARS A SLAVE” PRESS REVIEW

Hello.

You’d probably need to exercise anger management before you decide to watch a brutal film like this one.

For 134 minutes (the length of this film)  this Reviewer has been emotionally perturbed by what director STEVE McQUEEN has lined up as spectacle. It’s bound to leave an indelible print on your mindset.

This is a thought-provoking film that mirrors a savage world where men brutalize man. So much for mankind.

Racism most profound leads to black slavery and butchery.

If you are a Black existing in the pre-Civil War United States, you must watch your back before you romp, and trust no strangers even when they appear to be benevolent. Your life may not be worth a dime.

You witness innocent black families being forcibly taken against their will, then sold like cattle in the marketplace. It’s a horrific life of physical torture for the men ,and random rape for the women from then on.

Do black people deserve to be punished and violated?

All men are brothers, but that’s the name of the game that highlights racial discrimination albeit class distinction. All in all, it’s America’s biggest mistake.

 SOLOMON NORTHUP, a free black man from upstate New York is abducted and sold into slavery during the pre-Civil War United States.

Separated from his family, his life goes on a downward spin and he struggles for survival before he is rescued 12 years later.

The movie title “12 Years a Slave” is a black man’s trying to maintain his sanity and dignity above everything else.

CHIWETEL EJIOFOR stars as Solomon Northup, the US State citizen who was sold as a slave and thrown to work on a plantation in New Orleans, in the 1800s.

Steve McQueen (Hunger) directs from a script he co-wrote with John Ridley, based in part by Northup’s memoir.

Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, and Paul Giamatti co-star.

It’s Oscar buzz now – and this film is undoubtedly a sure bet. British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor – best known for second string roles in the likes of American Gangster, Inside Man and 2012 – finally gets the plaudits he deserves in this amazing based-on-a-true-story slavery drama.

It’s no middle-of-the-road movie, this one.

It’s a dead honest, remarkable and sorry depiction of what went wrong.

The ensemble cast, particularly CHIWETEL EJIOFOR and MICHAEL FASSBENDER give riveting performances.

“12 Years a Slave” can be a pain to watch, it’s emotionally disturbing because this is not fiction but a true story.

It’s well crafted and well acted with horrifying scenes of injustice to boot.

What price humanity?

This film opens your eyes to the horrendous deeds are so rampant back in the dark days of slavery.

Sitting through the movie, you tend to feel the numbness and the outrage.

Here’s one gem of a movie that has now arrived at our shores.

It makes us treasure the true meaning of freedom that we’ve always opted for granted.

Great show!