After watching Steve McQueen's Shame (2011) my expectations from 12 Years a Slave were rather low. The heist surrounding it during the Academy Awards didn't help. Well, i must admit i was wrong. 12 Years a Slave is an excellent movie.

From what i knew about the period and circumstances, i'd say tat 12 Years a Slave offers a reasonable level of historical and factual accuracy. The story of slavery is hopefully well known, but what makes this movie even more horrific is the fact the main protagonist has been kidnapped as a free man and sold to slavery.

There were two things, though, that disturbed me slightly.

One is the depiction of violence. I understood that this as merely a depiction of reality. Yet it felt as if 12 Years a Slave followed a trend in contemporary cinema where graphic violence seems to be a regular staple in every movie with artistic aspirations.

The other thing was a rather superficial case against the legal system of the era. It allowed the slavery to flourish and the violence against slaves was merely its byproduct. Just as an example, the main protagonist failed to achieve anything through legal action against the people who kidnapped him. And this happened in those "progressive" parts of USA.

However, these two things were small in comparison with the rest of the movie.