Version I saw: UK cinema release

Actors: 9/10

Plot/script: 7/10

Photography/visual style: 9/10

Music/score: 7/10

Overall: 8/10

The Academy adjudged this to be the best film of the year at the 2014 Oscars, and it is certainly a worthy contender, but I think come to be better known as the film that picked up the gauntlet which Django Unchained threw down.

Quentin Tarantino's highly entertaining period romp became a mockery due to its pretensions at somehow tackling the 'issue of slavery' in a new way. 12 Years a Slave is the film that shows how to do it right.

Director Steve McQueen's roots in the art world, where he used video material regularly in his art gallery installations, are apparent in his mastery of colour, motion, focus and movement. These are the tools of cinema, but they are also key to any number of other art forms.

The cast is also excellent. I have had my eye on Chiwetel Ejiofor ever since his superb performances in Serenity, Kinky Boots and Children of Men, but he is overshadowed by total newcomer Lupita Nyong'o. Able support is lent by Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender, whose characters lend the balance of which Django was so signally devoid.

The plot is pretty predictable, and it's hard going at times, heavy on suffering, but that is partly because of the source material on which it is based, the book of the same name which was Solomon Northup's account of his own captivity.

For my full review, see my independent film blog on Blogspot, Cinema Inferno: http://cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk