Review: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

One of the films with more momentum during awards-season is now showing everywhere in the world, just in time before the Oscars. From acclaimed filmmaker Steve McQueen- 12 YEARS A SLAVE.

By Staff

We are just four films shy of seeing all the Best Picture nominees. This one is everyone's favorite. It has a deep cast and a top-notch production behind it.

The picture takes place during the 1800's and it tells us the story of 'Solomon Northup', played brilliantly by Chiwetel Ejiofor, an African American, New York resident, who is lied to by two men who pretend to hire him for a great job in the South and kidnap him to sell him as a slave instead.

Solomon claims he was born a free man and demands to be set free immediately. Unfortunately, no white man believes him and other slaves warn him that a colored man will be executed for he will become a threat to the white society.

That is basically the plot- follow the life and all the people that crossed paths with the protagonist.

Analysis and opinion:

This is one impressive story; it shows us facts and details about the life of colored men and women when they were treated as slaves and not people.

The shots that portray some kind of punishment handed out by the "masters" are tough to see as the director spared nothing and showed everything as crude as he could.

The editing was acceptable; the story's flow was easy to follow and understand.

The cinematography, art direction and costume design standout among technical aspects. The first one focuses on communicating emotions based on carefully worked set-up shots. The art direction and costume design were gorgeous; you always know the time-period in the story and the difference in the social classes, created by society itself.

The performances by the cast are typical of a Steve McQueen film- full of pain, character de-socialization, anger and determination.

Chiwetel Ejiofor shows us a sorrow man, desperate after losing everything of true importance in his life.

Michael Fassbender, as 'Edwin Epps', is on fire! He shows us why he is one of Hollywood's most sought out actors. He had to play a VERY complex character and he shined like few others could with it.

Last but not least, Lupita Ngony'o, who played 'Patsey', is an actress that we'll keep an eye out for- she proved to have an amazing talent and if she wins the Oscar for her performance, it would not surprise us one bit.

The aspects that Steve McQueen was in charge of... honestly, were a bit disappointing. The sequences with some violence or some important dramatic weight (the ones he does best) were very good. But, he fails to communicate emotions during a big part of the movie. Maybe it's not the best way to say it but- the visuals seemed to be more important than an emotion transmitted by the cast.

McQueen manages to get the best out of every one of his characters/actors/actresses but some things, maybe the narrative or a change in the story's tempo, wouldn't have hurt (without sugarcoating it- Cuarón has the Oscar in the bag if McQueen is his biggest challenger).

Recapping- this is a great film, worthy of all the Oscar nods it received and all the awards it has won so far. In the eyes of the experts it's still the favorite to win the big one on Sunday night. We think that both 'GRAVITY' and 'DALLAS BUYERS CLUB' have enough arguments to upset it.