I just got back from the cinema. I finally got around to watching Twelve Years a Slave. Even though I reached the cinema after the film had started, it was absolutely tipping down so I went in anyway. Thus I think I missed the opening twenty minutes, but what I saw absolutely amazed me. It is a beautifully shot film, but the story it tells is chilling. Watching it, I was struck by the question, why should a country founded and built upon something as barbaric as slavery deserve to now lead the world? Then again, it is to Americas great credit that such films are now being made; it is facing up to it’s history, as all countries must. This is indeed an important film, both beautiful and troubling, which everyone should watch. It made me very angry at times, but I intend to give it a second viewing as soon as I can.