12 Years a Slave

Now I’ve finally seen the winner of Best Picture of 2013, and I have to say I was only slightly impressed. I knew it was going to be an ordeal to watch it, and I was right. The torture, the humiliation, the degradation, all come with the territory of movies about slavery. Which is not to say they shouldn’t be made, not by any means. But … and I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this … I feel that movies about slavery and about the Holocaust have an advantage in Academy voting simply because the voters feel they will be seen as racist or anti-Semitic if they don’t choose them. This movie, unlike Gravity and several other nominees, had nothing new to show me. It was all well-meaning, and the acting and writing was very good. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Alfre Woodard, Brad Pitt … what a cast, huh? But in the end it just didn’t move me much. I hate to think I’ve become indifferent, and I don’t think I have. It was all just beyond horrible, and the story needs to be told again and again. Maybe just not to me.

I’m listing my own rankings for Best Picture below. I haven’t seen Her yet.

1. Gravity
2. American Hustle
3. Dallas Buyers Club
4. Captain Phillips
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. Nebraska
8. Philomena