First Hit: Definitely an Oscar-contending performance by Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman.
Before she took the name Harriet, she was called Minty. The film opens with Minty as a married slave working for the Brodess family. Her husband, John Tubman (Zachary Momoh), is a free man working for another landowner. She sees him infrequently, and they steal hugs and kisses on rare occasions.
Minty’s mother works for the Brodess family as well as does her sister and other members of her family. Her father works for another family, just like John works for another family.
After the patriarch Edward Brodess dies, the son, Gideon (Joe Alwyn), takes over and ensures that he makes Minty’s life harder.
Minty and her husband had a lawyer to get a judge to write a document allowing her to be free and to leave the Brodess farm and start a family with her husband. The Brodess family rips up the letter and forbids John from coming around to see Minty ever again.
Minty cannot stand it and tells John to meet her by a fence gate, and they’ll run away together. However, she’s afraid that it will hurt John’s freedom, so she heads out alone to find freedom in Philadelphia, PA, and leaving him behind.
Her journey is horrendous, but she trusts in her faith in God and the visions that overwhelm her along the way. In the visions she sees the dangers that are coming her way and makes decisions about what to do next. The images are presented as flashes and in a dream-like sequence and sometimes I didn’t interpret or understand them like Minty did, but her actions gave the audience a clear understanding of her visions.
She gets to Philadelphia and finds her way to William Sill’s (Leslie Odom Jr.) printing business. Sill leads an organization that helps people escape slavery through the underground railroad. Sill is also documenting each slave’s story by interviewing them. One of the things Sill does when he talks with the slaves is to allow them to select a name for themselves, which he documents. This allows the new arrivals to be rid of their slave names. Minty decides on “Harriet” in honor of her mother and “Tubman” because that is her husband’s name.
Harriet is barely five-feet tall, but she becomes a giant in the underground railroad because, against all the odds, she goes back to Maryland multiple times and frees more slaves on each trip. She leads them through the wilderness and to Philadelphia.
Not only is she the most prolific of the conductors of the underground railroad, but she also becomes a leader of soldiers for the Union Army and frees over 190 more slaves in battles against the Confederate Army.
Not only did I learn a lot more about Harriet in this film, I left the film amazed that she didn’t get more print space in my middle and high school history books.
The film felt very formulaic, and some of the early scenes felt very staged. This is where the film struggles. However, once I let go of these staged scenes, and just rode within Harriet’s story through Harriet, it worked very well.
When it comes to putting her picture on the new upcoming $20 bill, she deserves it, and it can’t come soon enough. She’s a hero of the people.
Erivio was absolutely sublime as Harriet. This performance is of Academy Award caliber, as is the story. Odom Jr. is excellent as one of the leaders who coordinates the underground railroad. Alwyn is strong in this unenviable role as slave owner. Momoh was very good as Harriet’s husband, and the scene when she comes back for him is devastating for both. Janelle Monae, as boarding house proprietor Marie Buchanon was terrific. Her support of Harriet was unending and undying. Kasi Lemmons wrote a strong screenplay. Gregory Allen Howard directed this film. There were times the scenes were strong, but there were also scenes that felt too staged.
Overall: Despite the film’s unevenness, Harriet’s life as developed here was one of embodied strength.