Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) lives comfortably with his family as a free man in upstate New York until one day he is abducted and sold into slavery.
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Though I have great admiration for both of Steve McQueen's previous films, neither quite works for me entirely. Hunger and Shame both feel like this odd collision between experimental art film and traditional narrative cinema where the static dialogue scenes stick out like sore thumbs among all the beautiful, free-flowing images that come before and after. I get that this is a great tool for making your audience really focus on the words that are being said, but in terms of pacing it brings everything to a grinding halt. Fortunately he did not employ this technique for 12 Years A Slave.
To watch this film is to watch a great artist finally hit his stride. Everything works. The images are unforgettable both in their beauty and their brutality, the performances are impeccable and despite the importance of the subject matter, it is never resorts to cheap sentimentality. Every moment is earned. Even the text at the end of the film packs a wallop.
Allegedly President Wilson once described The Birth Of A Nation as, "History written with lightning." Well 12 Years A Slave has it beat because it is history written with blood, sweat, tears AND lightning. Believe the hype.
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