{"id":254,"date":"2014-06-24T00:45:03","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T00:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=254"},"modified":"2025-05-26T14:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T18:43:15","slug":"12-years-a-slave-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=254","title":{"rendered":"12 Years a Slave-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

12 Years a Slave-2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Steve McQueen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #62<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"70284282\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed June 24, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the time of 12 Years a Slave\u2019s (2013) release, a ton of buzz began circulating. Was it that good?<\/p>\n

Considered the front-runner to win the Best Picture statue, it did go on to win the top honor.<\/p>\n

The film is not easy to watch. It is brutal and heart-wrenching at times. I will spare the details, but the most intense scene involves a whip.<\/p>\n

There are scenes of torture, degradation, and cruelty against the slaves by the slave owners.<\/p>\n

While tough to watch, I applaud the film for not glossing over the atrocities of slavery. Some have criticized it for being a retread of similar films, but I disagree. It is worlds more intense than watered-down versions.<\/p>\n

However, the film is not a downer.<\/p>\n

Yes, a class of people is beaten down and victimized, but they also rise above and never give up hope. The fact that it’s a true story and a book was written on the subject by the real Solomon Northup makes it all the more powerful.<\/p>\n

The performances are outstanding (Ejiofor, Fassbender, Paulson, and Nyong’o).<\/p>\n

The look and cinematography are sharp and I love the distinctiveness of the north and south scenes. The setting is stifling hot and dreary.<\/p>\n

There are at least two scenes where the camera pans on a shot and holds it for seemingly an eternity until an action occurs, which makes the scenes effective.<\/p>\n

While difficult to watch, 12 Years a Slave (2013) should be viewed by everyone to see how far society has come, not forgetting how far we still need to go to eliminate discrimination and victimization.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations:<\/strong> 3 wins-<\/strong>Best Picture (won)<\/strong>, Best Director-Steve McQueen, Best Actor-Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actor-Michael Fassbender, Best Supporting Actress-Lupita Nyong’o (won)<\/strong>, Best Adapted Screenplay (won)<\/strong>, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 5 wins-<\/strong>Best Feature (won)<\/strong>, Best Director-Steve McQueen (won)<\/strong>, Best Male Lead-Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Male-Michael Fassbender, Best Supporting Female-Lupita Nyong’o (won)<\/strong>, Best Screenplay (won)<\/strong>, Best Cinematography (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 Years a Slave-2013 Director Steve McQueen Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender Scott’s Review #62 Reviewed June 24, 2014 Grade: A At the time of 12 Years a Slave\u2019s (2013) release, a ton of buzz began circulating. Was it that good? Considered the front-runner to win the Best Picture statue, it did go … Continue reading 12 Years a Slave-2013<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,4202,3209,356,42,6368,5755,1529,4200,192,41,211,4390,6960,4201,2604,2522,2025,4203,3413,6081,4199,6945],"tags":[76,4207,3212,357,58,6369,5756,1533,4205,193,73,212,4393,6962,4206,2606,2527,2031,4208,3415,6084,4204,6947],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-alfre-woodard","category-benedict-cumberbatch","category-best-feature-independent-spirit-award","category-bestpictureoscar","category-bill-camp","category-bill-pohlad","category-brad-pitt","category-chiwetel-ejiofor","category-dramas","category-indiefilms","category-indie-dramas","category-john-ridley","category-kelvin-harrison-jr","category-lupita-nyongo","category-michael-fassbender","category-paul-dano","category-paul-giamatti","category-quvenzhane-wallis","category-sarah-paulson","category-scoot-mcnairy","category-steve-mcqueen-director","category-storm-reid","tag-2013-movie-reviews","tag-alfre-woodard","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-best-feature-independent-spirit-award","tag-best-picture-oscar-winners","tag-bill-camp","tag-bill-pohlad","tag-brad-pitt","tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","tag-dramas-2","tag-independent-films","tag-indie-dramas","tag-john-ridley","tag-kelvin-harrison-jr","tag-lupita-nyongo","tag-michael-fassbender","tag-paul-dano","tag-paul-giamatti","tag-quvenzhane-wallis","tag-sarah-paulson","tag-scoot-mcnairy","tag-steve-mcqueen-director","tag-storm-reid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20123,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/20123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}