20 Perfect Shots From Oscar Winning Movies

18. 12 Years A Slave - Solomon Gets Lynched

The most discomforting scene in a movie full of them sees slave Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) left to hang from a tree, only barely able to prevent his own death by standing on his tip toes.

It's an excruciating single take that goes on for well over a minute before director Steve McQueen decides to cut, and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt said of the scene, "There was some pressure to shorten it because it was upsetting people, but I would be tempted to elongate it, actually, to even further heighten the effect. It has to be unacceptable."

It's by far the most potent image in not just this single movie, but perhaps the entire "canon" of films about slavery. Horrific and unforgettable, as it should be.