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Critics Consensus: It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave's unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant -- and quite possibly essential -- cinema.
Critic Consensus: It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave's unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant -- and quite possibly essential -- cinema.
All Critics (348) | Top Critics (54) | Fresh (332) | Rotten (16)
Birector Steve McQueen presents slavery as it happened with a camera that hangs on shots long after we're comfortable looking. The only choice is to engage with what's on screen.
It speaks to the courage and resilience of one man, the savagery of many, and the potential, for both good and for ill, in us all.
In its own saintly manner, it's as exploitative as anything critics accused Django Unchained of being, minus Tarantino's eye for idiosyncrasy and sense of humor.
The cumulative emotional effect is devastating: the final scenes are as angry, as memorable, as overwhelming as anything modern cinema has to offer.
So overpowering is this film's simple, horrible, and almost entirely true story that it's hard to get enough distance on 12 Years a Slave to poke at its inner workings.
Every scene of 12 Years a Slave, and almost every shot, conveys some penetrating truth about America's original sin.
12 Years a Slave also means that there is finally a film about slavery in America that is not told only through white people's eyes.
fd
Absorbing and comprehensively thought-provoking, 12 Years A Slave is one of the most hostile yet insightful movie-going experiences you will realize with glaring appreciation this year or any other year at the movies.
It is possibly the most beautifully tragic film I have ever seen, it is sure to win some major awards, and is a big contender for my favourite film of 2013.
12 Years a Slave is that rare film that transcends the hype surrounding it and is the most emotional experience I have had in a theater in some time.
Feels hemmed in by convention in a way that McQueen's previous films did not.
It is not very clear what McQueen wants with this unflinching but detached story of survival, as he throws together scenes of brutal realism with theatrical dialogue, cartoonish villains and a plot that seems more interested in the torture than offering any new insight into the subject.
Super Reviewer
One of the best films of 2013. Nominated for an impressive nine Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Winner of four Golden Globes including Best Picture and Best Actor and was victorious in capturing three Oscars including Best Supported Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and winning the Best Picture Oscar of 2013.
So far, the best of the Academy Award contenders I've seen. Next would be The Wolf of Wall Street. 12 Years a Slave is a must-see.
A worthy best picture winner based on the excellent performances and the importance of the subject matter, but this is not an easy movie to watch. If you can't handle graphic torture scenes, stay far away. There's quite of few of them and they are brutal. I admire that the actors and actresses were willing to put themselves through it. The movie itself is a great redemption story and emotionally compelling (especially the ending), but it can be slow at times. It's not something I would probably want to watch again, but absolutely worth it at least once if you can stomach it. The average film-goer that grabs this for a watch based on its awards will not like it more than likely because it is not a mainstream audience movie, but that is not something that should take away its accomplishments on and off the film.
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