The story is compelling - a free man beguiled and sold into slavery that he cannot escape. It's really horrific that this could even happen, but it did happen and the results for Solomon Northup are equally horrific. The treatment that Solomon, and all the slaves suffer is so unjustifiably cruel that it's honestly hard to watch. Despite all of this it is oddly hard to develop and true emotional connection with the film. So many of the characters are so narrowly drawn in such black and white terms as to become caricatures. There's very little gray area in this film, and little true character development that despite all of the solid elements and performances, it simply does not deliver on it's promises.