12 Years a Slave - movie review

Making the drive north to see 12 Years a Slave, I was sure of what I had heard I would be in for a 'treat' of a movie.  Well treat may not be the word, but my oh my, what a movie. The acting of Chiwetel Ejiofor, is definitely an Oscar winning performance, with everyone involved, and to mention a few Michael Fassbender (phenomenal performance as the slave owner you love to hate) and with Benedict Cumberbatch, (making another movie appearance this year) as a more benevolent slave owner.
This movie, with graphic demonstrations of the cruelty that went on in the south with some slave owners. It is a hard movie to watch at time, and I came away with the thought of "how can we do this to another human being", and as my friend pointed out "they did not think they were human". Thank goodness we are past that. But we still have on our planet inhumanity acts being done to another human.  My respect of one another was certainly brought to the fore. Time to realize no matter the color of a person's skin, or the religion he follows, he is still human.
This is a story of a black man, a wealthy black man, who was respected and had a 'position' in his community and how he was lured to Washington, D.C. and then kidnapped and for 12 years until a kindly builder, played by Brad Pitt, (who was also on the production side) let his family and friends in the North know of his plight and he was rescued.  Apparently many people found themselves with this fate. Never to be rescued, but to live their lives out in slavery, after being free men.
But Solomon was rescued and returned to his family, and although he learn from the transcript at the end, he tried to sue the people who kidnapped him and the person who beat him until he would admit he was a slave, only to met defeat, he did write a book 12 Years a Slave.
This movie is impactful on so many levels, with great acting and editing, which means great direction by Steve McQueen (oh by the way. The audience was so stunned, they did not move to leave as the credits rolled and when the name Steve McQueen came up a man behind me said 'he's dead'.  I think the whole audience had a response to the name Steve McQueen. He did a great job here, bringing out the 'dark side' of the actors so you believed them. 
This is a movie everyone needs to see to remind us of a part of world history where we did not respect one another.  It is bound to solicit an emotional response, especially with some scenes, so this movie is not for the faint of heart. Still worth seeing.
4 1/2 out of 5.