Director Steve McQueen's "12 Years A Slave" is Oscar top contender as it features unsettling and harrowing scenes about slavery.

The public screening of the film made some audience walked out from the theater while others sob and gasp during the film's most unflinchingly brutal sequences, and finally, a prolonged standing ovation.

According to McQueen, he actually toned down the violence in comparison to the film's original material; the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup. Northup is a free black man and an accomplished violinist who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

"The book was far more brutal ... than what we have on film," said the 43 year-old "Shame" director.

"The truth is the truth," he added later. "Horrific is not what I'm interested in. What I'm interested in is understanding, number one. And it has to be a situation where you are telling a story where the audience trusts you ... not to exploit the situation but to sort of project it in a light that is understandable, that everyone can reach for and understand."

The deafening buzz of the film prompted ecstatic reviews that Britain's Guardian newspaper and New York magazine are going is making an advance copy to proclaim that the Oscar race is effectively over, with the latter publication with the headline: "Your Best Picture winner Will Be '12 years a Slave'."

Bets are being placed on the film's cast for Chiwetel Ejiofor as best actor, Michael Fassbender for best supporting actor, Lupita Nyong'o for best supporting actress, and of course, Steve McQueen for Best Director. The technical aspect of the film is outstanding that it deserves to be recognized as well.

When asked about his experience with director Steve McQueen, Ejiofor says, "I feel like he was able to create a circumstance where I felt very free to explore and to try things because he has such an incredibly watchful eye."

When asked about the movie's Oscar potential, he shyly says, "Making this film has been an extraordinary journey ... so anything else is gravy."

So let's just wait and see for the verdict although for some fans the film is already a winner.