Home video: '12 Years a Slave' primed for Oscars

Intense, unflinching, bold in its simplicity and radical in its use of image, sound and staging, "12 Years a Slave" in many ways is the defining epic so many have longed for to examine — if not cauterize — America's primal wound. But it's also a crowning achievement for filmmaker Steve McQueen. The film, winner of a Golden Globe, earned nine Oscar nominations, including best picture, best director, best actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), best supporting actor (Michael Fassbender) and best supporting actress (Lupita Nyong'o). The DVD (Fox, $30), out Tuesday, includes two making-of featurettes. The Blu-ray ($40) adds a documentary about how the film was conceived and the book that inspired it.