’12 Years a Slave’ takes everything that you know, or at least what you think you know, about slavery and crushes that into a million pieces. So, one of two things must happen (if not, both) after watching this incredibly dark, but extremely vital film: 1) go home and thank God that you live in today’s society and/or 2) take into consideration what rough spot any judge within the Hollywood Foreign Press or the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences must be in to have to choose the Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress among this exceptional cast.

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free African American man living in Saratoga, NY working as a professional violinist gets captured by slave hunters and brought into the South where he’s sold into slavery. ’12 Years a Slave’ is a story that upon hearing about it leaves room for its audience to feel a great sense of empathy for someone who having been born with his freedom be torn away from it and everyone he holds most dear. However, Steve McQueen has made ’12 Years a Slave’ into more than just a sad story to be told and quickly forgotten. He’s burned it into our brains with a fantastic retelling of one man’s story and he’s accomplished it with a brilliant group of performers.

Although only onscreen for approximately ten minutes, Benedict Cumberbatch is a slave owner who serves as Solomon’s last, small shred of hope before he’s turned over to Michael Fassbender’s Edwin Epps (whose unforgiving, but painstakingly brilliant performance will be mentioned later). While portraying a man willing to separate loved ones to acquire slaves for his plantation still leaves a little room for audiences, if not to like him, to respect him as much as they can with his tolerance towards learned slaves in his approach to the character.

Before his inevitable encounter (as shown in several trailers) with Fassbender’s character, Paul Dano makes an appearance and while his onscreen time is about as short, if not shorter than Cumberbatch’s, is an effective one, serving not only as the first one to try to break Northup’s otherwise hopeful spirit. We are introduced to him with a song that he teaches the slaves to sing while working; it’s a song meant to scare and intimidate them and with every verse, it takes all efforts not to cringe with disgust.

The bulk of Northup’s time as a slave (as well as in the film) is spent at Epps’s (Fassbender) plantation. In what might be his most ruthless role in his career yet, Fassbender portrays a wildly volatile slave owner who sees slaves only as property (a reoccurring theme that McQueen nails in this film). His strict leadership (i.e., meeting their “inefficiency” and negligible disobedience with severe punishment) is motivated by his misinterpretation of the Bible and he sees fit to treat them however he wants regardless of their well-being.

With Sarah Paulson playing his wife (and perfect match), it’s hard to tell who is the greater villain between the corrupt couple. While her gentle and poised demeanor suggests otherwise, she is just as cold, if not colder, to the slaves. At one point, she convinces her husband to punish a slave so harshly that one could argue the scene’s similarities to scenes from ‘The Passion of the Christ’. In other scenes, she plays the devil’s advocate in obliquely warning Northup of Epps’s intolerance for educated slaves and touching upon, albeit very briefly and in front of other slaves, why they [the slaves] don’t revolt against them being outnumbered.

Characters are what drive the story behind ’12 Years a Slave’ forward and its story wouldn’t impact audiences everywhere half as much without the proper actor to do its main character justice. Ejifor offers a stunning performance as a man whose freedom is taken away from him and, as a result, slowly deteriorates right in front of our eyes, especially while being under Epps’s authority. Throughout the film, as each simple pleasure and glimpse of hope and survival is brutally forced from him, his character development (or breakdown) is captured (along with a few prolonged shots) in his grief stricken face and in his weakening stature. Ejiofor perfectly depicts a man broken.

Last, but definitely not least, Lupita Nyong’o, like her fellow castmates deserves recognition for her role as Patsey. She is not only a victim to a horrific time in our country’s history, but also to another kind of slavery. Despite seemingly managing to keep her wits about her, she has a moment of weakness that Northup bears witness to (and when he is not at his lowest state quite yet only makes it harder for him to empathize with Patsey), it is in this moment that we not only feel for her as we do with Northup, but we see one of the greatest performances of a woman truly desperate that we’ve seen in years.

While Hans Zimmer has proven himself a very skilled composer, there’s a lack of his beautiful score. However, since music is meant to enhance specific feelings for certain scenes (i.e., like many of the long shots in this film—particularly one in which Northup may almost certainly meet his death), it’d be overkill to include.

If there’s anything that McQueen doesn’t completely nail in this film, it may have to do with the beginning scene. The first five minutes may have served a better thematic purpose after it’d been established that Solomon had been in captivity for some time.

As vast as the knowledge that we may have on slavery in the United States, there isn’t a better example of how low human beings were treated. ’12 Years a Slave’ is an actual account of the life of a man whose rights were ripped from him and there’s no better teacher than someone’s experience. Long after viewing this movie, the images and the incredible performances will remain in the minds of those who’ve had this movie-going experience. ’12 Years a Slave’ will stem conversation of perhaps our history, our own interpretation of freedom, and/or how we regard others. In this regard, ’12 Years a Slave’ isn’t just a film, but a game-changer. It is not only the most important film you’ll see all year, but perhaps the most important film you’ll see in your life.

Jim’s Rating: 10/10