Good movie but brutal. Couldn’t think of how human could be so inhuman.

86th Academy Awards (2014)
Winners:
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o
Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominations:
Best Director
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender
Best Production Design
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing

There is a lot of violence in the movies of Steve McQueen that I've watched. This is not to minimalize the violence against Black people during the time of slavery, or any other time. This movie demonstrates the huge amount of hatred some people have and how they are able to act upon it with a feeling of privilege. Systemic racism has deep roots and this film is an indication of how deep they grow.

"John Ridley's and Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave is a compelling film but it is not a courageous or honest film—not if truth matters. Ridley and McQueen shrink from portraying Solomon Northrup's experience and attitude toward slavery in all its complexity. This is, no doubt, because we moderns are not supposed to think critically about such things as slavery in cultural-historical context. Instead, we are to employ contemporary, Western standards in simple binary terms—good vs. evil—and judge those involved (and their figurative or literal descendants) as either oppressors or victims.

"To ensure we think correct thoughts people such as Ridley and McQueen are entitled to take such liberties as may be necessary to shield us from whatever actual moral and historical complexity may be found in the true story. Our cultural guardians safely assume that the very few among us who may take the trouble to dig deeper into a story will be safely marginal ...

"And don't even think about mentioning the 5.6 million slaves in present-day sub-Saharan Africa. No, the unsettling facts of slavery must not be allowed to contaminate the slaveowner=White=evil equation because 12 Years a Slave was created in support of a modern-day racial agenda and that agenda is not to be held hostage to the truthful retelling of Solomon Northrup's story or any other inconvenient facts.

"In Northrup's lifetime his memoir was hailed for, not despite, its complex honesty: 'NORTHRUP will be believed, because, instead of indiscriminate accusations, he gives you the good and evil of Slavery just as he found it. All kindnesses are remembered with gratitude. Masters and Overseers who treated slaves humanely are commended; for there, as here, were good and bad men' (Salem [NY] Press, July 26, 1853, as quoted in Fiske et al., p. 115). Today, such truth is seen as inconvenient, at best, and, perhaps, a Stockholm syndrome-type expression of internalized self-deception or, at worst, an unconscionable apology for evil."

Full review at: <https://vfpdissident.blogspot.com/2015/07/12-years-slave.html>

Too brutal, couldn’t watch it.

Watch Fassbender's and Pitt's acting capabilities in this film. Could not be better.

heart breaking but based on true events.. its wonderful Solomon story was shared..

Boring. Really boring. This is not a great film.

Brutal but fact-based story of a free man, kidnapped and sold into slavery, who uses his wits to survive a very bad situation. Excellent portrayal, too, of the miseries of the white plantation class, including a well-meaning but condescending owner, and a mutually going mad couple. This is not suitable for children.

Had this movie not been made during the Obama Era, it would have been merely an "eh" at the box office. Did not deserve all of the accolades.