Since 12 Years a Slave made its debut -- unofficially at Telluride, officially in Toronto -- the debate surrounding Steve McQueen's unsparing chronicle of American slavery has been less about whether or it not it's a great film than justhow great it is. With 31 reviews in, it's overtaken Gravity at Metacritic as the best-reviewed movie of the year;Criticwire's 39 reviews yield an A- average. There's nothing inherently wrong with critical consensus; some movies just are great, in a way that few find reason to dispute. But consensus doesn't clarify like debate, and when critics unite in praise, it's always worth seeking out those who intelligently depart from the herd.
It's no surprise that among the dissenters is Armond White, a once-great critic who's become a tiresomely predictable contrarian; given that his review was the subject of at least half a dozen blog posts, it's clear where the impetus lies. White's review is characteristically rife with ad hominem attacks -- "Some of the most racist people I know are bowled over by this movie" -- and incomprehensible jabs: "It's the flipside of the aberrant warmth some Blacks claim in response to the superficial uplift of The Help and The Butler." What could "aberrant warmth" even mean? If anything's aberrant, in the non-judgmental sense of the term, it's White's eccentric views.
But as is sometimes the case, there's a salient critique mixed in with White's street-corner ranting, one that's echoed by other, less spittle-flecked takes on the film:
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