12 YEARS A SLAVE WILL BLOW YOU AWAY

12 Years A Slave is the latest film from Steve McQueen. The film has been getting a lot of hype now that awards season is upon us. The question though, is that does the film earn the hype?

In 12 Years A Slave, A free African-American named Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is tricked into slavery where he remains in servitude for 12 grueling years. During his journey he meets kind slave owner Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his bastard of a helper Tibeats (Paul Dano), evil slave master Edwin Eps (Michael Fassbender), and kind hearted carpenter Bass (Brad Pitt).

The film is certainly no easy task to sit through (I had to take a break around the half-way point). The whole film is basically non-stop torture of slaves, and it's a task to sit through the whole thing....it really starts to wear you down after a while. What makes it all the more difficult is watching as Solomon's faith, hope and indeed his very soul begin to crumble. No one can deny that this is a challenging film.

Steve McQueen assembled a top notch cast for his film, including Paul Dano, who is a great bastard, Michael Fassbender, who is a shoo in for best supporting actor as the despicable slave master who rules his "property" through fear and brutality (you really hate his character),  Paul Giamatti, who isn't in the film for long as a mean slave trader, Brad Pitt, who is pretty good as the kind carpenter, Benedict Cumberbatch, who is great as the kind slave owner, Lupita Nyon'O is emotionally raw and real as Patsy, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is superb as the star of the film. He will most likely win best actor this year, and he deserves it. he really wows. The whole ensemble is super talented and all put on great performances.

12 Years A Slave will likely sweep a good deal of the awards this year (Best actor, best supporting actor, best director, most likely best film as well), and I think it kind of deserves to. The film turns slavery into a terrifying horror story, bringing it into vivid, graphic life. You've never seen slavery depicted in this way before, and this portrayal will most likely stick with you for a very long time. You'll never look at slavery the same way again. Steve McQueen is to be commended for his work here, he didn't just make a great film, he made an important film and how often can you say that?

5 STARS