Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae) comforts Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) after she returns to Maryland for her husband John (Zackary Momoh), only to discover he has remarried after her escape to freedom. “What’s a man to a woman touched by God?” Marie points out, a statement that’s appropriate to a woman whose faith guided her in her riskiest journeys. In Harriet, co-written and directed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me), we follow the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor. Despite its standout performances, the film suffers from a formulaic delivery.
The story begins in 1849 in Bucktown, Maryland, where Araminta “Minty” (née Ross) Tubman is still enslaved while her husband John is a free man. When the son of her owner puts up ads to sell her, she escapes without John. She successfully makes it 100 miles to Philadelphia and meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), an abolitionist who introduces her the Underground Railroad - a network of safehouses and allies to leverage for the journey to free states. Assuming the new free name Harriet, Tubman becomes a conductor for the network, freeing over 70 enslaved people (including her friends and family.)
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The story begins in 1849 in Bucktown, Maryland, where Araminta “Minty” (née Ross) Tubman is still enslaved while her husband John is a free man. When the son of her owner puts up ads to sell her, she escapes without John. She successfully makes it 100 miles to Philadelphia and meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), an abolitionist who introduces her the Underground Railroad - a network of safehouses and allies to leverage for the journey to free states. Assuming the new free name Harriet, Tubman becomes a conductor for the network, freeing over 70 enslaved people (including her friends and family.)
Continue reading…
Continue reading...