Harrowing ‘Slave’; Wet Wiki; Redford Lost: Film
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Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” is as harrowing as its subject demands. No mainstream movie since “Schindler’s List” has merged worthy sentiment and grueling sadism with such powerfully disturbing sweep.
A shattering central performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor (and an even more impressive turn by McQueen regular Michael Fassbender) produce a determinedly brutal visualization of Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir.