12 Years a Slave

[Passdagas the Brown]

Surprised there isn't a thread on this, considering it is likely to win best picture at the Oscars. And it would deserve it (though I wouldn't be upset about Gravity taking it either).

This film tells the story of slavery in America in a way that a Spielberg, or other more melodramatic directors, always seem to botch. It was a horrific thing, and it was embedded in southern plantation society. You need only show daily life, as it was, to tell the story. And don't flinch. There has been too much ham-handedness and an aversion to the brutal in filmic depictions of the "peculiar institution" - the euphemism of the century). This film avoids all those mistakes, without being a polemic.

There is one scene in particular, where the camera lingers for a very long time, passing from day and into night, that is one of the more powerful images I have seen in any film. I will not spoil it, but you will know it when you see it.

If I were to describe the visual aesthetic of the film, I would say it captures "hell in paradise." Spanish moss, calm rivers, sunlit fields, and calm breezes, all amidst a human tragedy like few others.

In short, this one hit me like a hammer. I was a wreck of emotions as I was filing out, and there seemed to be very few dry eyes in the crowd.

Curious to get thoughts from others.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I will see it, but I literally need to prepare myself to do so.

[Passdagas the Brown]

You won't regret it, though your body might. My muscles were as tense as a drum for the entire film.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Finally saw it. Certainly one of the most powerful films I have ever seen.

[kzer_za]

Yep, amazing movie and definitely deserving of the Oscar. It needed to be made. Not sure if I'll ever see it again though - so horrifying!

[Pearly Di]

There is one scene in particular, where the camera lingers for a very long time, passing from day and into night, that is one of the more powerful images I have seen in any film. I will not spoil it, but you will know it when you see it.

Yes. And a shorter scene near the end is also amazing.

I finally got round to watching it. Glad I did, because it's a very powerful and important film, but it was gruelling and draining. The cruelty, the misery, the degradation, the despair.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o give fantastic performances.

Hidden text.

I think I was most affected by Eliza and Patsey. Solomon's appalling nightmare eventually ended.

Theirs didn't.