12 Years a Slave - Family Review

Content Warnings

• Sexual Content

  Strong
  None Mild Moderate Severe
  Read details

  A woman makes a man pleasure herself for about a minute and a half. No nudity.

  A female slave is raped by her male master. Her breast is briefly visible.

  A woman is tied to a post and stripped naked before being violently whipped (see violence & gore). Her breast and buttocks and briefly seen. Not done for sexual purposes.

  A scene where a group of slaves bathe outside--full frontal and rear nudity seen; male and female; full bodies seen (no closeups).

  In a slave market, the slaves are sold nude so that their potential buyers can inspect them. Male & female full-frontal nudity.

• Violence

  Strong
  None Mild Moderate Severe
  Read details

  A drunk man makes multiple threats to many slaves in the movie. Most of the time he has a knife.

  One man kicks another man a few times, but is then tackled and hit several times. No blood or gore.

  R violence type: blood and graphic.

  A woman is whipped on the back numerous times. The camera angle is usually opposite to the actual contact But we can still see the graphic wounds, whipping sounds, pained faces and even blood mist and skin spraying from the most savage hits. We even see gilmpses of bone each time a piece of skin is striked off.

  A woman who has been whipped is cared for by other slaves. The wounds on her back are visible and she winces and cries as they clean them.

  A man is hit on the back with a wooden club-pan multiple times bloodlessly.

  A woman's face/eye is scratched, possibly with a razor. Difficult to tell which, as it's brief and seen from a distance.

  A man is hanged by the neck on his toes for an extended scene before the rope is cut down.

  A man is stabbed once with a knife. Minimal blood.

  In one scene, a few slaves are hanged and we see their bodies convulse briefly.

• Profanity

  Strong
  None Mild Moderate Severe
  Read details

  A man sings an old slave song called "Run, Nigger, Run," for an extended time.

  'Damn' is said at least three times. 'Goddamn' is said at least twice.

  'Bastard' is said a small number of times. Minimal uses of 'Shit' and 'Bitch' too.

  'Fuck' is said at least once.

  'Hell' is said once.

  Very frequent use of the "n-word".

• Intense Scenes

  Strong
  None Mild Moderate Severe
  Read details

  The whipping, beating, and face-damage scenes could all be hard to watch. The rape may upset some viewers.

  Themes of racism throughout.