12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen makes confronting films. His previous two, Hunger and Shame, were especially confronting for their portrayals of both the struggles of the 1981 Irish hunger strike and a New York sex addict, respectively. 12 Years a Slave is no less confronting than those two films.

The film follows the true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a freed slave, who is sold back into slavery in a set of nefarious circumstances. Solomon eventually ends up as the property of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a psychotic cotton plantation owner, after attacking a carpenter at his previous plantation. Epps is an especially cruel master and regularly punishes his slaves. Solomon tries many times to get word back to his family, but is unable to, due to the resistance of people around him who are too afraid.

McQueen superbly conveys the pain of his characters in the film. Likewise, he is unflinching in the depiction of violence toward the slaves. At many times the whippings and lynchings are extremely hard to watch. What's even more hard to comprehend is the fact that this actually occurred, not only in the case of Solomon Northup, but to slaves throughout the South in the pre-Civil War period.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Love Actually) plays Solomon with such pain that I could see through his performance to the reality of both the character and the actual man within who feels for the injustices that happened in the past. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) is amazing as Solomon's previous master.

The most amazing performance for me comes from McQueen's muse Michael Fassbender (Shame). His ugly and honest portrayal of a southern plantation owner is painful to watch, but that's a good thing. If you like his character there's something wrong with you.

Verdict: An extremely confronting film about a dark time in not just the history of the United States, but the history of man in general.