"12 Years a Slave" Receives 96% Review on Rotten Tomatoes: Steve McQueen and Cast Shed Light on Real American Slavery [TRAILER]

The new Hollywood blockbuster that everyone is talking about, "12 Years a Slave," features an all star cast led by director Steve McQueen diving into the gritty, real aspects of American slavery in the south. The movie, after its release date, has received a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "Certified Fresh" stamp by the movie reviewing website. The movie is based on a book of the same name that follows a young man who was born free in New York City, was sold into slavery for 12 years, and then was rescued and had his freedom restored. Critics are raving about the perspective that "12 Years a Slave" takes on slavery because the main character, Solomon, was physically and emotionally a slave, but was still culturally a free man during his 12 years of slavery.

Manohla Dargis from the NY Times wrote, "It's a desperate path and a story that seizes you almost immediately with visceral force. But Mr. McQueen keeps everything moving so fluidly and efficiently that you're too busy worrying about Solomon, following him as travels from auction house to plantation, to linger long in the emotions and ideas that the movie churns up. Part of this is pragmatic - Mr. McQueen wants to keep you in your seat, not force you out of the theater, sobbing - but there's something else at work here. This is, he insists, a story about Solomon, who may represent an entire subjugated people and, by extension, the peculiar institution, as well as the American past and present. Yet this is also, emphatically, the story of one individual."

Will you make it to the theater to see "12 Years a Slave" this fall season? If you haven't already seen it, check out this trailer for "12 Years a Slave."