I just watched this a few days ago and thought it was pretty good. I was in the mood for something a bit more intense, dramatic and probably exaggerated. This felt far more real and focused on the men fighting the political battle, only hinting at the horrors of slavery. That approach works (particularly because it would be hard to sit through political battles if we had already seen the brutal horrors that were occurring at the time) and makes it far more approachable to the faint of heart, but the trade off is that it loses some of the power it could have had.

It could have been better in several ways, but not without making sacrifices. Instead it manages to be a good movie that knows it's limits and accepts them.