Every Best Picture Oscar Winner Ranked Worst To Best
17. 12 Years A Slave (2013)
Steve McQueen's relentlessly bleak look at American slavery focusses on Solomon, a free Black man who's conned, sold, and thrust into a nightmare.
12 Years a Slave is the kind of great, vital movie that begs to be seen, but can only ever be watched once. McQueen holds nothing back, giving audiences no peace of mind as Solomon and his fellow slaves find their humanity stripped and their souls crushed by bondage and degradation.
It's a cruel, wrenching experience, brought to searing life by McQueen's unflinching direction and the performances of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and a devastating Lupita Nyong'o. Few Best Picture winners have ever felt this viscerally unforgettable and necessary.