Oscars 2014: Ranking The Best Actors From Worst To Best
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years A Slave
Director Steve McQueen had one goal in mind when setting out to adapt the memoirs of Solomon Northup, and to be fair it's the same goal he has for every movie he directs. He wanted to take a serious subject - American slavery - and depict it in all its brutality and inhumanity. Steve McQueen does not pull strings or sugarcoat history to create a more approachable offering for mainstream audiences, but rather indulges in crafting films that are downright emotionally challenging to watch. As talented and brilliant as a director like Steve McQueen is however, without an equally talented muse in Chiwetel Ejiofor, it's a failed endeavour. In other words, Ejiofor needs to put in a performance so sympathetic and heart-wrenching to watch, that it must render every other film made on the subject obsolete. And as evident from his Best Actor nomination, Ejiofor succeeds. It has been said before but his facial expressions alone can carry the film. Throughout all the torture and cruelty is a man that refuses to abandon all hope. The audience feels every ounce of his pain and sadness, even when he is doing something as mundane as sitting around eating grapes. His dialogue is delivered with a sense of determined anger and is able to match the expressions on the face. 12 Years A Slave is not an easy film to watch, but that's all the evidence needed to know that all the actors involved specifically Ejiofor knocked it out of the park.
