The good, bad side of Ejiofor’s ‘Oscar-bound’ ‘12 Years A Slave’

Lead actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor in the movie 12 Years A Slave

Nigerian-born British actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor-led movie 12 Years A Slave seems to be having the good and the bad of public response at the ongoing Toronto Film Festival in Canada. 

Just as Ejiofor’s performance in the role of Northup has been tipped as 'Oscar-bound' by critics, another reports coming from the festival says a large number of audience walked out midway into the showing of the movie.

The audience, it has been reported, staged a walkout to protest the violence scene in the Steve McQueen’s adaptation of Solomon Northup’s memoir, denouncing the graphic and brutal representation of a slave scenes.

According to agency reports, a scene shows Ejiofor as Northup being beaten more than 12 times with a bat and then whipped by his kidnappers. More brutal, according to sources, is another scene about slaves being hanged and killed.

McQueen’s adaptation is a story of Northup as free musician living in Saratoga, New York, but kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South.

Defending the scenes, Ejiofor, who is also the star of Half Of A Yellow Sun -  also premiered at the same film festival yesterday -was quoted as arguing that the “violence scenes were important to the movie”.