Laura Mooney
Arts Editor | ote-arts@unbc.ca

ith the Oscars over and

done with as of 2 March
2014, now is the time when
those who have not seen some
of the winning pictures rush to
the nearest theatre (or pirating
websites) to view the so-called
best films of
the year.

3,

The big winner this year, not in
terms of number of Oscars won,
but definitely the feel good win
of the night, was 12 Years a Slave
winning best picture. Did the film
live up to the award? Or did we
have another undeserved film like
Crash on our hands. The only way
to find out was to sit down and
watch the newest induction into
Hollywood masterpieces.

12 Years a Slave is by no
means a sit down and
zone out type of
film. Director Steve
McQueen’s sensitive
interpretation of
the true memoirs of
Solomon Northrop,
a free black man
kidnapped and
forced into slavery,
is a film that will

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have you glued to the screen from
start to finish. Despite the lengthy
135 minute run time, the film
simply flies by. During its release,
the film became infamous for
showing in harrowing detail the
extent of the brutality that was
present in the Antebellum south,
and had some scenes featuring
lashings that were almost
unbearable to watch. There was a
chance that showing scenes such
as this, the film would have come
off as just another bloody scene
meant for pure shock value, but
McQueen presented the material
in such a way that it comes off as
sad and poignant. The audience
was meant to care for the main
characters in a short period of
time, and McQueen pulls this off
flawlessly.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays
Solomon Northrop, while having
appeared in multiple films before
12 Years a Slave, still remains
a fairly unknown
actor. However,
with his

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incredibly real role in the film

he has now been launched into
stardom, gaining recognition
from other actors and critics
alike, even managing to nab a best
actor nomination. Ejiofor plays
Northrop with such accuracy it

is as though he was channeling
the spirit of Northrop himself.
Every idiosyncrasy presented in
Northrop’s memoirs is translated
impeccably through Ejiofor’s
performance, resulting in the
role being one of the best parts of
the film.

However, while the film’s main
focus is on Northrop’s life and
time spent moving between
plantations, with a variety of
bosses or “overseers” at the helm,
the cast of supporting characters
is honestly what makes 12 Years a
Slave so fantastic. From Benedict
Cumberbatch’s (Sherlock) turn as a
compassionate plantation owner,
to Brad Pitt as a compassionate
farmhand, and Lupita Nyong’o’s
award winning performance
as a fellow slave, all of these
performances add to the film’s
atmosphere, but none so much
as Michael Fassbender. Playing
the ruthless dictator Edwin Epps,
Fassbender (Prometheus) creates
a film villain so detestable that
only meeting Epps in real
life could rival it. Admittedly,
this reviewer loves Michael
Fassbender as an actor anda
human being (seriously he is
amazing), but after viewing this
film it took a few days to view
him as anything other than a
man with a whip in his hand
dealing out lashings. Even on
the red carpet at the Oscar’s his
face ignited fury in my household.
With that said, the fact that this
kind of emotion was spawned
from a mere acting job, shows that
the main thing 12 Years a Slave has
going for it is an amazing group
of actors that were able to band
together to tell an amazing story.

Without giving too much away,
this film is more than worth the
watch and in every way deserved
to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
The sensitive subject matter is
utilized with extreme care and
will leave you breathless as the
actors perform the story with
absolute precision. All in all, the
Academy got it right for once.