The film , however , was not without its criticisms . Stephanie Zacharek of '' The Village Voice '' was more critical of the film . While praising Ejiofor 's work , she stated : " It 's a picture that stays more than a few safe steps away from anything so dangerous as raw feeling . Even when it depicts inhuman cruelty , as it often does , it never compromises its aesthetic purity . " Peter Malamud Smith of '' Slate '' criticized the story , saying , " '' 12 Years a Slave '' is constructed as a story of a man trying to return to his family , offering every viewer a way into empathizing with its protagonist . Maybe we need a story framed on that individual scale in order to understand it . But it has a distorting effect all the same . We 're more invested in one hero than in millions of victims ; if we 're forced to imagine ourselves enslaved , we want to imagine ourselves as Northup , a special person who miraculously escaped the system that attempted to crush him . " Describing this as " the hero problem " , Malamud Smith concluded his review explaining , " We can handle '' 12 Years a Slave '' . But do n't expect '' 60 Years a Slave '' any time soon . And '' 200 Years , Millions of Slaves '' ? Forget about it . " Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of '' The A.V. Club '' opined that McQueen is " essentially tone-deaf when it comes to performance , and skirts by on casting " . The film " lacks a necessary emotional continuity . I do n't think it 's something the movie is denying in the way it intentionally denies so many other conventions ; it 's still structured around an ending that 's supposed to function as a release , but because it ca n't organize that sense of catharsis it so badly needs , it just feels as though McQueen is scurrying for an exit . Also : The cast is wildly uneven . " Some critics identified the '' 12 Years a Slave '' as an example of the white savior narrative in film . Timothy Sneed said in '' U.S. News & World Report '' the year after the film was released , " Doubts still lingered about its ability to truly bring about a newfound racial consciousness among a national , mainstream audience ... The film also was a period piece that featured a happy ending ushered in by a ' white savior ' in the form of Brad Pitt 's character . " At '' The Guardian '' , black Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas said he would not be seeing '' 12 Years a Slave '' , explaining : " I 'm convinced these black race films are created for a white , liberal film audience to engender white guilt and make them feel bad about themselves . Regardless of your race , these films are unlikely to teach you anything you do n't already know . " '' 12 Years a Slave '' has received numerous awards and nominations . It earned three Academy Awards , including Best Picture . It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama . The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film , while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award . In addition , the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics , appearing on 100 critics ' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot . This is both the most of any film released in its production year
Academy Awards
86th Academy Awards
12 Years a Slave (film)