Review of 12 Years a Slave (2013) by Kathy S — 24 Jul 2015

Highest possible rating. Very close to a perfect film. Not like any other movie I've ever seen. Its lush, liquid cinematographic beauty reminds me of a Terrence Malick film; its long, quiet cuts whose understated spareness is precisely what makes them so powerful remind me of Kurosawa; but its emotional gut-punch, the nearly palpable sensation of an ever-increasing weight bearing down to crush you.

... I can't think of anything else to compare it to. This is one of those very rare cases where the movie fleshes out, enriches and deepens the book. The book has details of cotton and sugar-cane farming, the food and clothing of the slaves, the legal aspects of slavery, and the social structure along Bayou Boeuf that the movie could not get into detail about, but the movie makes the reality of 165 years ago COME ALIVE and get under your skin.

It is an immersion, and you'll need a recovery period after the final credits roll. May God bless everyone involved with making this film. We cannot go back in time to the era of Solomon Northup and the people he knew -- real people, who really lived -- but thanks to the filmmakers, we may, in a small but powerful sense, share their experiences.

For that reason, this movie is an incomparable gift to the world.