An american movie about americas most taboo subject, based on a american book by a real historical american black person. That should promise a high risk of political correctness. It is almost impossible to avoid it. I mean, how many ways can you tell a story about slavery, without repeating the same clichés over and over again.
Now do not get me wrong. There is no person on this planet that is as disgusted by the thought of slavery as me. It is the darkest part on the story of humanity. But that does not necessarily mean that it will make good cinema - just because of the horror of it. This is the type of theme that gets oscars because if it did not, the persons who dole out the statues, will be looked down upon. It is a kind of guilt-ridden spectre that can be dragged out of the closet now and then.
It is as good as impossible for me to appreciate this movie, as it just throws the violence and despair at you for a good two hours, without actually focusing on the moral aspects of it. You know that they are there, they have been there all through our history. We get all the horrible, sociopathic, white slave-owning men and women, the benevolent white slave-owner to counter-balance the evil ones. The main character is a free man who is catched by slave catchers from "the evil" south, thus torn from his nice and well mannered northern middle class life. The northeners are the nice and non-racist good guys compared to the overall evil southern types. This plays well into the politically correct view of good and evil as it is usually portraid.
I am not too impressed with the leading actor. He looks too much like a 21 century black guy in a movie, rather than a slave of 12 years in the middle of the 1800s. Cumberbatch and Pit are clearly only there to attract movie goers, not to enrich the overall story. I really felt bored several times and that is a bad sign. It is not a bad movie as such, but i only just got what i thought i would get, before i watched it. However important the topic, it is generic.
I never felt any deep emotional connection with the slave characters, or any of the other characters for that matter. The ending is not satisfactory and the acting by the lead does not hold up.
Rating: 5/10