12 Years a Slave
Directed by Steve McQueen
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life. From TMDB
204 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews) · newest Oct 16, 2026 · last updated Oct 16, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 29 | 3 | 116 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TMDB reviews * | 4 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
50 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
170 archived X posts (Mar–Apr 2026) are kept for the record and not used.
What people are saying
A written summary appears once the title has a score.
Critics, per Wikipedia
12 Years a Slave earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States. During its opening limited release in the United States, 12 Years a Slave debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average. The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million. It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013. In 2014, 12 Years a Slave was the 10th-most illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to Variety. Film review aggregator website…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 204 · most liked firstI am…encouraged by everyone who mentioned media like ‘12 Years A Slave’, ‘Roots’, etc, after I shared that disturbing classroom discussion clip on slavery. This is the importance of film and television. It can be used to close the knowledge gap. But it can widen it too if it goes unchecked.
neutral · AI labelView post →Me looking at the local movie theatre's newly updated marquee today that now included a screening of 12 Years a Slave...on the 28th of February... There were ZERO Black-centered movie showings this month until now.
neutral · AI labelView post →2/? Mind you, I think that "Schindler's List" is a great movie. But at the time, "12 Years a Slave" was in theaters. It was the movie being talked about at the moment. What is it about white folks that have to shift the focus when talking about the Black experience or Black people?
neutral · AI labelView post →This week Robert Colby drops in to do the hard work of talking about the film 12 Years A Slave as well as his new book An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South. 🧵 #HATM 1/
neutral · AI labelView post →12 Years A Slave Saw the premiere at the London Film Festival so it was a sold out screening It is devastating and brutal and actually has a happy ending, by which time my emotions had been through the wringer and I properly wept - loud, full body sobs I was powerless to stop
positive · AI labelView post →12 Years A Slave is a great movie that is also McQueen's worst by default, and it's maddening how uninterested the industry has been in him as a filmmaker when he's not doing The One Subject We Need Black Filmmakers For
positive · AI labelView post →“12 Years a Slave” is my favorite movie about my first marriage.
positive · AI labelView post →It’s a much smaller, lighter scale than war or genocide, but I think about how all of the white actors on 12 Years A Slave had to do intense therapy after *shooting a movie* let alone committing actual atrocities. This stuff hollows out the soul and manifests in all sorts of ways.
neutral · AI labelView post →#NowWatching 12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013). Director: Steve McQueen. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o. 1st rewatch of this Best Picture Oscar winner since it was in theaters. After today's U.S. Supreme Court nonsense about birthright citizenship, seemed like good time to revisit. #filmsky 📽
neutral · AI labelView post →There is a movie called 12 YEARS A SLAVE about him. I recommend it!
neutral · AI labelView post →Giamatti is really good in 12 Years a Slave because he shows rather than tells why all the other monsters depicted in the movie would be like “well at least I’m not a TRADER”
neutral · AI labelView post →I screened movies like 12 Years a Slave and Fruitvale Station for my dorm movie nights back in college. Both were directed by smart Black men with good eyes. Made #them watch too. You should have seen and heard how silent it was after.
positive · AI labelView post →#OctoberMovieChallenge Day 4 Someone wrongly imprisoned in a movie 12 Years A Slave (2013)
neutral · AI labelView post →Watched 12 Years a Slave last night and am convinced America would be a very different place if watching that film or reading the book and writing an essay about it was necessary to graduate high school
positive · AI labelView post →Sisko was in a 12 Years a Slave made-for-TV movie
neutral · AI labelView post →the economist has no poster's bushido, always posting shit like this anonymously (c.f., that movie review of 12 Years A Slave from a decade ago where some anonymous gammon was whining about how unfair it was to slaveowners)
neutral · AI labelView post →I hate when we get the first little nibble of a black romance movie and people start overly critiquing it. Shut UP. Go watch 12 Years a Slave
neutral · AI labelView post →Hobbs & Shaw. Not because I held a silly film to unreasonable standards but because the F&F franchise is actually fun for me but this offshoot is not fun. Just basura top to bottom. 12 Years a Slave. Well-made film; won’t watch twice tho; reasons obvi. Rage. And sadness. And more rage.
positive · AI labelView post →Since 12 YEARS A SLAVE is back on Netflix, my review from 13 months ago. boxd.it/7QBtsr
neutral · AI labelView post →Introduce yourself with one food you refuse to eat, a movie you'll never watch again, and a song you can't stand Food: olives Movie: 12 Years a Slave (too hard to watch again) Song: the version of “Fast Car” by that little Debbie country boy (why remake it when Tracy Chapman did it perfectly?)
neutral · AI labelView post →"Scary Movie" (2026) is so unfunny & out of touch that multiple scenes lean on "timely" references to: - Final Destination 3 (2006) - Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Ma (2019) - 12 Years A Slave (2013) - John Wick (2014) No jokes. Just dozens of shots copied from trailers to films they haven't seen.
neutral · AI labelView post →Children of Men. Beautiful movie. Cried. Clapped at the end. Five stars. Don't need to feel that sad ever again. Same with 12 Years A Slave.
positive · AI labelView post →#FavoriteMovie #MovieChallenge 9 : Favorite movie, for whatever reason (too sad, scary, disturbing) you'll never watch again Great film and I know it was based on a true story, but the cruelty was too awful to watch again. 12 Years A Slave (2013)
neutral · AI labelView post →i think the first post-Hayes Code exempt movie is probably a western or a musical (code probably ended in 1947ish doesn't really kick off until 1948), but the *definitive* post-Hayes Code movie is (this just came to me) 12 Years A Slave with Sidney Poitier in 1949
neutral · AI labelView post →As a black man that went to white schools most of my life. I stopped watching any movie where we are slaves about 14 years ago. Low-key can't remember the last one I saw, for SURE didn't see 12 Years a Slave. Cause, what?!? Why? For whom?
neutral · AI labelView post →#BlueZicos #MusicChallenge February 7-Historical movie 12 Years a Slave youtu.be/FICanqLXR2w?...
neutral · AI labelView post →Goes for actors and film, too. Back when 12 Years a Slave came out, the absolute conviction from folks on sm that Sarah Paulson must be an evil racist "or else she would have turned down the role" was mind-boggling.
neutral · AI labelView post →Lupita Nyong’o She won Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 12 Years a Slave (2013)
neutral · AI labelView post →This stupidity all stems from a doctored image of Nyong'o purporting to be a "first look" at her as Helen of Troy in The Odyssey (originally from 12 Years a Slave) that's been circulating on the bad place and movie news Facebook groups. It's all just dogshit bait designed to anger up racist chuds.
neutral · AI labelView post →I met someone (Black) who said that 12 Years a Slave was his comfort movie, and he regularly puts it on to fall asleep. And if there were ever a moment I wanted to revoke a "Black card..."
neutral · AI labelView post →Heads up: Movie Zyng has a sale going on right now on select Disney-owned movies! Some slop, but also some damn good flicks on blu-ray like 12 Years a Slave Bad Times at the El Royale Ever After A Hidden Life One Hour Photo The Peanuts Movie Raising Arizona Ready or Not Underwater Widows and more!
neutral · AI labelView post →scrolling thru Letterboxd reviews of 12 Years a Slave after reviewing it myself & seeing a lot of “torture porn” accusations (by white ppl, no less). bb. you can’t make a film about the enslavement & dehumanization of a ppl without depicting the, yes, torture they endured on a regular basis. jfc.
positive · AI labelView post →honestly, any black movie that deals with the extremes of trauma and the experiences of our oppression such as 12 Years A Slave, Fruitvale Station and countless others i recognize the history and significance but that's not all we are
neutral · AI labelView post →I attended a film debut at a small theater Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender walked in and sat behind me. The film was 12 Years A Slave and most of the rest of the cast + Director was there (Lupita, Chiwetel, Steve McQueen) It was so fresh out of post production Fassbender hadn’t seen it yet
neutral · AI labelView post →Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner All the Presidents Men 12 Years a Slave The Zone of interest To Kill a Mockingbird The Lives of Others… Personally looking forward to the film that tells the story of America’s descent into a fascist dictatorship.
neutral · AI labelView post →#Edwards2026MovieThingChallenge Day 23 A movie about Freedom 12 Years A Slave (2013)
neutral · AI labelView post →Thinking about how film/music/fiction can be used to effectively educate/emotionally heal. In 2019 I attended a conference on Tidewater slavery & we watched 12 Years A Slave but only after a kind of group meditation/acknowledgment. It was powerful. We need more art literally dealing with this stuff.
positive · AI labelView post →This week we had Ladies & Gentlemen 50 Years of Music on SNL, The Brutalist, and American Primeval on our list before counting up Best Picture winners Argo and 12 Years a Slave. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... #filmsky #moviesky
neutral · AI labelView post →9/20 Films that influenced me in some way and always stayed with me. ‘12 Years a Slave’ directed by Steve McQueen I was lucky enough to see the European premiere at the London Film Festival with cast and director in attendance. What a special night that was.
positive · AI labelView post →While I'm sure Avengers Doomsday will be dark for a Marvel movie, with respect, it cannot possibly be one of the darkest -movies- ever made. 12 Years a Slave. The Nightingale. Sophie's Choice. Let's not be ridiculous.
neutral · AI labelView post →The book 12 Years A Slave is more violent and explicit than the film. Very harrowing
neutral · AI labelView post →246) 12 Years a Slave (2013) #NowWatching on @netflix.com #2026FirstTimeWatch 225 #FilmSky #12YearsASlave
neutral · AI labelView post →He likes learning from movies so lets make him watch 12 Years a Slave. It's a fairly accurate biographical film of events which actually occurred. Maybe he'll realize that not only did some people not deserve to be enslaved but that no one deserved to be enslaved.
neutral · AI labelView post →i ran into kyle chandler after a screening of 12 Years a Slave but I was essentially stunlocked because I had a migrane from the espresso I drank before the movie (and the film was Loud)
neutral · AI labelView post →I feel like my answer to this would be 12 YEARS A SLAVE, which feels like it doesn't exist anymore, despite being an astonishing film.
positive · AI labelView post →ICYMI: I rewatched 12 YEARS A SLAVE last night for the first time since it came out and had a thought. boxd.it/7QBtsr
neutral · AI labelView post →I don't think Garland's nationality has anything to do with it. 12 Years A Slave had a British star and director. Sometimes not being as personally invested in the subject of a film can be helpful.
neutral · AI labelView post →Milton Williams is my kinda guy: Q: you ever cried during a movie? A: yes Q: what movie? A: I think it was 12 Years a Slave or……Toy Story 4. When all the Toy Story characters was finna get burned up, it was like man, my childhood H/T @andrewcallahan.bsky.social
neutral · AI labelView post →12 Years a Slave The Lovely Bones (Not a movie) but When They See Us Fruitvale probably would’ve been there too but I haven’t seen it and it just might stay that way. 😓
neutral · AI labelView post →some truly wild things here -- only one Black produced film has ever won Best Picture at the Oscars. that was Steve McQueen's 12 YEARS A SLAVE. he's also the first (and only) Black director and producer to win Best Picture. so, if Sinners had won, it would be 2nd. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
neutral · AI labelView post →The OTHER correct answer was 12 Years a Slave. 😁 I haven't seen any of the winners since that movie won in 2014. It wasn't planned, just haven't seen them.
positive · AI labelView post →This is crazy. Imagine the movie "12 Years a Slave", but with a British grandma as the main character. I'm hoping it's important that the grandma managed to keep a cool enough head to keep track of what she saw and the conversations she had. Some of the info she shared, I'd never heard of before.
neutral · AI labelView post →/ BEYE COMPUTERIZED RANDOM SELECTION / THE NEXT FILM EYE SHALL WATCH IS / 12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013) / www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02I...
neutral · AI labelView post →Favorite film for each year of the 21st century. 2013: 12 Years a Slave #filmsky
positive · AI labelView post →This was in 2013 and I went to see 12 Years a Slave after and I thought the film was so horrible it made me feel physically sick. Turns out I was also just sick. Had to get a train back to London and the train staff were all fussing over me cos I looked like I was about to die
negative · AI labelView post →Louisiana?!!! Louisiana was horrific. Who is he fooling…Solomon Northup was kidnapped to Louisiana and his story was made into a movie: 12 Years a Slave. His story was horrific.
neutral · AI labelView post →FWIW, it does not push the violence in your face a la "12 Years a Slave" (which was necessary for that movie). It visualizes endurance rather than pain. I say that because I do want people to see it, even/especially those who read the book.
neutral · AI labelView post →Alfre Woodard the absolute 🐐. Just a for instance I recall her having like four minutes in 12 YEARS A SLAVE that made me think “at long last, some real movie star stuff”.
neutral · AI labelView post →I had also previously punched the kid who the sister punched, for continuing to sing an extremely racist song from 12 Years a Slave (great movie choice for white teenagers, teacher!) around one of like three black kids on the football team, after I’d shamed the rest of his chorus into stopping.
neutral · AI labelView post →88.) 12 Years a Slave Backrooms fan watches first real movie
neutral · AI labelView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.