342. 12 Years a Slave (#182)

Summary: Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Lee Murkey, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT. So this week, Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave. In 1841 New York, Solomon Northup is a free man. While his wife and family are away, Solomon earns his way as a travelling musician. However, two conmen take advantage of his trust, drugging him and selling him into slavery. Transported to Louisiana, Solomon finds himself stripped of all the rights and comforts afforded a human being. Through twelve years of brutality, horror and violence, Solomon struggles not only to survive, but to live - and to hold on to some vestige of his humanity in the process. At time of recording, it was ranked 182nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.