Harriet

Harriet is a biographical drama that covers about 10 years of Harriet Tubman’s life. Starting from her escape from slavery, to her repeated trips back to save others and briefly to her time serving the military during the Civil War.

I thought that the plot was easy to follow and the story was engaging and brought forward some things that I didn’t know from when I learned about Tubman in school.

There were quite a few unknowns in this movie, including the lead, Cynthia Erivo, which I thought was great for expanding the horizons of diversity on screen. Overall the entire cast did well and Erivo did a nice job carrying the movie. She was able to show the fear, strength and determination to break her chains and the empathy and bravery to continue to go back to free others. Even though I enjoyed all of the acting, I don’t think that any of it would be considered Oscar worthy.

The sets and the costumes looked historically accurate for the time and place. The only thing that they could have done a bit better was in the makeup department when it came to aging Tubman a bit over the course of this decade covered in this movie.

The editing was well done and at times emotionally triggering. This movie, however, didn’t have that big screen budget feel that I was hoping for; it was more like a made for TV movie. Also, it was PG-13 so it lacked some of the intensity that some of its predecessors like Amistad or 12 Years A Slave had. I think that is why they glossed over some key historical moments, they didn’t really show the brutality of slavery nor did they go into much detail about her vicious head injury. Historically it has been said that this head injury lead to an acute form of narcolepsy paired with vivid dreams that would last for hours. Therefore I felt it wasn’t very realistic when the writers tried to conveniently tie this into neatly placed, brief visions that would always alert her of any eminent danger.

Toward the end the movie I was left wanting more. I would have liked to have seen on screen a more realistic take on Tubman’s experience in the military. I would have liked the director to have expanded more on her career as a spy for the North during the Civil War and her life post war. She experienced a lack of respect during her service and wasn’t recognized for the sacrifices and impact that she made until much later. She also was involved in charities the rest of her life that often crippled her and her family financially but instead we get a brief glamorized view of her life at the end of the movie. I also would have liked there to have been a highlight on Tubman being discussed as the new face of the $20 bill.

Even though there were quite a bit of misses I am glad that this story was made. Harriet Tubman was able to help change the course of history though her drive and determination and because of that this story should be shared and seen by all.