12 YEARS A SLAVE (2103)

**2014 OSCAR NOMINEE**
Steve McQueen's true story of Solomon Northup - an educated free Black man in pre-Civil War upstate New York, with a home and family, who was abducted and sold into slavery in the south - is unflinching in both its beauty and cruelty, in its tale of a man who dealt with over a decade of beatings, injustice, and the constant threat of death, only rarely to be shown any kindness - and even then, by those who couldn't help him set things right. Chiwetel Ejiofor, for so long now one of the most gifted actors working today, gives Northup such strength and quiet dignity, reflecting in him what was happening to an entire race of people, and with a stellar supporting cast including Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender, director McQueen shines a glaring spotlight on a horrific, shameful period in this country's history, when fellow human beings were treated as something far less than human ... something we, as one people, obviously still need to be reminded of today. (rated R)  *****

12 YEARS A SLAVE trailer