Harriet

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. 

The Current Wars: Director's Cut

First Hit: Although informative about three great men Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla, the story wasn’t very compelling about how we electrified the United States.

Growing up, I believed that Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) took Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity and put it to use for all of us. I made the assumption that he alone brought electrical power to the people. I must not have paid attention in school, or the textbooks were wrong, or I was misled by my teachers. My guess was I wasn’t paying attention.

If the information in this film is correct, Edison’s pure genius was in the plethora of products he dreamed up and made real. The electric light bulb was probably his legacy, but he also made products like the phonograph and ways to see motion pictures. Both the phonograph and motion picture machine started as hand-powered units that eventually became electrified.

Yes, he did electrify sections of cities using his DC (direct current) generators and underground copper wires.But it’s limitations, including economics and distance shortcomings, were the downfall of his company to electrify whole cities.

On the other hand, George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) decided to be Edison’s competitor by using AC (alternating current), which allowed him to provide electrical power over long distances inexpensively. The AC system was an invention of Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), who sold it to Westinghouse. The perceived issue with AC current was that if improperly installed or used, it could harm or kill people.

Tesla first worked for Edison, but because Edison didn’t want to listen to the possibilities of AC power, Tesla left after a short period.

Tesla and Westinghouse worked together to bring inexpensive electrical power to all of the United States. And although each were inventors in their own right, it was Edison who invented many of the practical products we use today.

One of the sweetest parts of the film was when Edison tells Westinghouse about how he felt when one of his many experiments with the incandescent bulb worked. The power of trying and not succeeding. Then trying again and again was meaningful and enduring and beautifully shared.

The critical component of the film was the different personalities of these three men and how it affected their approached to work. When Edison breaks his much-touted promise to not bring harm to another human gets challenged, he’s heartbroken. Tesla was creative in how he documented his inventions. Westinghouse had an ability to look at the big picture and to methodically persevere.

Both Edison and Westinghouse had exciting and intense discussions with the dominant banker and financier J.P. Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen) about how to finance the electrification of cities and about the money they all could make on it through his support.

I thought many of the scenes were interestingly developed but faltered with less impressive follow-through. How did Edison really feel about his wife dying? Did the use of electricity to kill someone as corporal punishment advance this practice of putting people to death for crimes?

Cumberbatch was excellent in many scenes as Edison by bringing a single and driven focus to his work. But I didn’t have a sense of how he became this amazing inventor. Shannon felt a little miscast. He usually plays a darker character because of his looks and intensity; however, as Westinghouse he’s given to be more gentle in his words and actions and it seemed incongruent. Hoult was solid as Tesla, quietly working in the background pulling ideas out of thin air and creatively documenting them in his notebook. Macfadyen was terrific as the financier J.P. Morgan. His practicality and drive to support geniuses were well presented. Tom Holland, as Samuel Insull, Edison’s right hand man, was outstanding. His belief in Edison was well earned. Michael Mitnick wrote a thought-provoking screenplay that will have me do further research on how the US became electrified. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon did a good job of directing this film. I do think there were opportunities missed to delve deeper into the impact of these men and also their histories.

Overall: This was a solid film, but not great, and I think it could have been a great story to tell.

August (Agosto)

First Hit: A beautiful intimate story about a young man coming into his own during the 1994 crisis in Cuba.

Here Cuba is going through an economic crisis because the Cold War between the United States and Russia has ended. Russia, being Cuba’s benefactor, is in its own turmoil and this satellite country of theirs, just 90 miles from the United States, is now caught without a support system.

The country is in deep poverty, the government supplied electricity is sporadic, and food is difficult to find. People are fleeing the island in unsafe boats and other homemade floatation devices and attempting to make their way to the US.

It’s August of 1994 and Carlos (Damian Gonzalez Guerrero), and Carlos is out of school for their recess. He’s in love with Elena, as is his best friend, Mandy. The talk on the radio is how people are fleeing Cuba.

His grandmother is old, lives with him, and is in constant need. She lives with him and his mother and father. She has bouts of daydreams and fantasies. He takes care of her by feeding her, talking with her, and giving her water when she cries out.

In one poignant scene, his grandmother seems to intuitively know that sex is on Carlos’ mind, so she tells him that his deceased grandfather was an outstanding lover. Her graphic details were hilarious to me in the audience but very confusing and educational to Carlos.

The beautiful photography of a decaying Cuba highlighted by spots of fresh paint on a few walls exemplified the economic struggles and hopeful outlook of this prideful nation in crisis.

What makes this film stand out was the non-verbal power of Guerrero to share Carlos’ struggle to become a man. His sweet way of holding Elena’s hand, and their first sweet kiss was exquisite. When he thinks Elena wants more in their subsequent kiss, he’s shocked and hurt in Elena’s rebuffing him.

When he sees Elena sitting on a wall holding hands with Mandy, the audience can feel his hurt. Then to add to his quiet ways, the reluctance to share his sadness with his mother when she asks him about what is wrong exemplifies many young boys' unwillingness to share these types of troubles with their mothers.

After he learns that Elena’s family has left on a boat to the US, he decides to take matters into his own hands and find a way to escape the island. His hubris and inexperience show up on the beach at night.

Guerrero was sublime, and I felt like I knew him because I was him during different moments of this story. The rest of the actors Alejandro Guerrero Machado, Glenda Delgado Dominguez, Luis Ernesto Barcenas, Rafael Lahera Suárez, Lola Amores Rodríguez, Verónica Lynn López, and Tatiana Monge Herrera were excellent in their respective roles. As writer and director, Armando Capo put together a beautiful piece of art while sharing a very personal story.

Overall: This gorgeous film marinates within you long after you leave the theater.

Judy

First Hit: This film opened the door to possibly seeing a more in-depth and human Judy through her last year of life.

I loved and was deeply touched by this story.

After seeing this film, and then reading some of the reviews, I found that the reviews saying that they should have dubbed Judy’s voice on the songs that Renee Zellweger sang as Judy, missed the point of the story that was presented.

This story is about Judy’s final year of life, her voice worn out from surgery, drinking, smoking, and her soul ripped out by enablers and poor decisions. Have a dubbed voice of a Judy in her prime would have been both dishonest and not real.

Judy died at age 47, six months after she was removed from the set of London concerts which are the focal point of this story. Judy was strung out on pills and booze most all of her adult life. It felt as though Judy was simply a commodity that people used to make money, and in this way, Zellweger nailed what it must felt like.

As this movie pointedly shows in scenes sprinkled throughout, as a child, Judy was fed drugs by the head of motion picture companies to keep her alert and awake when they wanted her to work, to keep her thin, and then to have her sleep when they didn’t need her. The story shows that people had only one focus, use her voice, to make others, including her parents, husbands, and movie studios money.

With little real support from husbands (she married five times) or someone who had her best interests at heart, Judy ended up broke, strung out, and desperate to find inner peace.

This story begins with Judy and her young children Lorena and Joey Luft being shuttled on staged and in front of a live audience to do a quick song with a silly dance. They were handed an envelope with $150. Heading back to the hotel, where they’ve been saying, they find out that because Judy was in arrears to the hotel, their room was repurposed.

Getting into a taxi, Judy, with kids in tow, ends up at Sidney Luft’s (Rufus Sewell) home. The scene that shortly follows sets up their antagonistic relationship. Leaving the kids with Sid, and nowhere to go, she heads to a party where her older daughter Liza Minnelli (Gemma-Leah Devereux) is located.

Meeting Mickey Deens (Finn Wittrock) at this party, Judy decides to stay at the party instead of leaving with Liza because Mickey is charming and flirtatious with Judy. It’s here we see out easily she’s influenced and charmed.

We move forward a few weeks and, in need of money to buy a home, pay her debts, and become a full-time mother, Judy signs a 5-week agreement to do concerts in London. With Roslyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley) assigned to keep Judy in line and show up sober to the sold-out engagements, Judy does try her best, but her inner demons continue to gnaw at her, and soon she shows up on stage drunk and ends up walking out.

However, she does get a swan song helped by her true fans - this was a lovely scene.

Zellweger was absolutely fantastic as Judy. The, I don’t know what to do, and I’m a fish out of water, look Zellweger brought to the role absolutely fit with the story as told. Over the years, I’ve listened recordings of Judy and could easily imagine her voice losing its sublime tone after surgery, drugs, alcohol, and lots of cigarettes. That some think that Judy’s premiere voice should have been used in the singing scenes, would have been a false story. Buckley was excellent as Judy’s minder while in England. Slowly seeing the depth of Judy’s suffering was beautifully portrayed when she presented Judy with a birthday cake she could eat. Deans was good as Judy’s last savior husband. Royce Pierreson as Judy’s bandleader in London, was beautiful. I felt as though he knew the path Judy had taken and would do anything to make it work for her on stage. Andy Nyman and Daniel Cerqueira play two London gay men who are full-fledged fans of Judy’s and the scenes with them and Judy in their apartment were incredibly sweet and heartfelt. Sewell as Sidney Luft was excellent but unexplored. Lastly, Darci Shaw as a young Judy was excellent. The scene of sitting with Mickey Rooney in a restaurant with Judy’s minder not letting Judy eat anything was incredibly telling of how her life was controlled. Tom Edge wrote an interesting script about the final months about Judy’s life. Rupert Goold did a fantastic job of creating pointed scenes and excellently staged sets. But ultimately his getting Zellweger to take on and embody Judy Garland was perfect.

Overall: I was deeply touched by this story.

Official Secrets

First Hit: I really enjoyed this film not only because of the exceptional acting but also because I learned about this brave individual.

Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley) worked for the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) as part of British Intelligence. Her mandarin language translation skills from living all around Asia as a child, helped the agency translate tapped intercepted telephone conversations and write reports about them. Her job was to help prevent terrorist activities and attacks in Britain.

One day she receives an email with an attached memo stating that the United States and Britain were going to coerce votes from small United Nations members to influence the support for invading Iraq. George Bush and his team of people wanted to invade Iraq after 9-11, and he wanted to do it legally with United Nations support. Manufacturing evidence (WMDs) and using this coercion of small nations, they would get UN approval to bomb the hell out of Iraq. Bush wanted to prove that the US was doing something about the 9-11 attack and he felt his father the senior Bush didn’t do enough when they’d previously invaded Iraq.

The attached memo was seen by Gun as collusion between England and the US to enter this war illegally. With a deep sense of purpose to stop this illegal action and from the potential deaths of fellow Englishmen, US soldiers and possibly thousands of Iraqi citizens, she prints a copy of the memo and gives this copy to a friend who will give it to the press. Three weeks go by, and it isn’t published, but finally Martin Bright (Matt Smith) of The Observer decides, after doing their due diligence, to release the memo in full and all hell breaks loose.

Scotland Yard starts their investigation at GCHQ and shortly after the interviews begin, Katharine admits she leaked the memo in violation of the Official Secrets Act. After threatening and harassing her and her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri), even arresting him and attempt to deport him, eight months later the government decides to formally charge Gun.

Obtaining Ben Emerson (Ralph Fiennes) a volunteer lawyer, through a public legal group, they decide to take on the government. By investigating authorized personnel in the government that had initially told Prime Minister Tony Blair that his actions would be illegal, they decided to fight the case. Because it is public knowledge, I’ll share that the government exonerated Gun from the crimes she committed even though she confessed to leaking the document.

This was a great story and one I knew nothing about until seeing this film.

Knightley is fantastic as Gun. Her ability to be fragile, scared, and brave, all at once is perfect for this film. Great casting call. Smith, as Bright was excellent. His drive to publish the article was strong. His look when someone on their staff used “spellcheck” on his story and changed the spelling of key words was perfect. Bakri as Gun’s husband was wonderful. His caring support of Katharine felt genuine. Fiennes was excellent as Gun’s lawyer, and the scene at the end of the film when he asks his friend to leave the spot where he’s fishing is pointed about how things have to change. Rhys Ifans was fabulous as US investigative reporter Ed Vulliamy. His outrageous drive helped to secure the information needed to validate the information in the leaked memo. Everyone in this film was good and, of course, seeing the real Katharine Gun in film footage was perfect. Gregory Bernstein, Sara Bernstein, and Gavin Hood did a fantastic job of creating a compelling screenplay. Hood got terrific performances from the entire crew and actors.

Overall: This film is a potent reminder that we have to live our truth and be willing to stand up for what is right.