Click here to copy URL

12 Years a Slave

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

12 Years a Slave (Twelve Years a Slave)

2013

Steve McQueen

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Paul Dano ...

7.3

64,364

Drama Based on a true story, 12 YEARS A SLAVE is a riveting account of a free black man kidnapped and sold into brutal slavery in mid-1850s Louisiana, and the inspiring story of his desperate struggle to return home to his family. Solomon Northup, an educated black man with a gift for music, lives with his wife and children in New York. One day he awakens to find he has been drugged and being shipped to the South as a slave. Refusing to ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"The genius of '12 Years a Slave' is its insistence on banal evil, and on terror, that seeped into souls, bound bodies and reaped an enduring, terrible price."	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"You won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"This epic account of an unbreakable soul makes even Scarlett O’Hara’s struggles seem petty by comparison (...) Composition, sound design and story all cut together beautifully"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Robey Telegraph	"Brilliant and brutal."	POS
United States	Claudia Puig USA Today	"The harrowing '12 Years a Slave' is a mesmerizing period drama for the ages. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter	"A strong, involving, at times overstated telling of an extraordinary life story"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"'12 Years a Slave' is a mesmerizing triumph of art and polemics: McQueen turns a topic rendered distant by history into an experience that (...) makes you feel as if you've been there."	POS
Canada	Peter Howell Toronto Star	"Britain's Steve McQueen (...) nails the horror of America's slavery shame but also finds humanity in one man's determination to free himself and return to his family. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune	"The historical urgency and staggering injustice of the events keep McQueen and company utterly honest in their approach. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"	POS

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.