Movies based on historical events or people, are usually made with two objectives in mind. The first is to entertain the audience its aiming for with the second being to inform them about the event or persons being covered in the story. In the case of
Harriet, the film aims to achieve both along with jump-starting what's hoped to be a strong campaign for the film heading into award season. The film is a significant achievement for the reason being it's the first Hollywood film to focus on the life of Harriet Tubman, an African-American female slave who managed to not only free herself from a life of enslavement, but in an act of pure heroism, freed nearly a thousand slaves while coining the term "Be free or die", which appropriately stands as being the films main tagline. With the story of Harriet Tubman, it was always inevitable that the filmmakers would take certain liberties with the story by altering events and creating fictional characters to help fill in the blanks of what was missing from the person's life to help complete the story in the form of a full-length feature film. This is a common practice that's done with many historical dramas and biographies as no history film is 100 percent accurate. However in the case of
Harriet, the film has come under heavy fire and criticism for some of the films creative decisions in regards to telling its story. While these additions to the story can be looked upon as being formulaic, they don't ruin the overall experience of the film as
Harriet remains an effective and generally inspirational/moving experience for audiences, that does justice to it's main historical figure with a terrific performance from Cynthia Erivo in the lead.
The plot for
Harriet focuses on the life of Harriet Tubman with the film showing her escape from slavery, along with her freedom turning into both her passion and dedication to free other enslaved African-Americans, as well as helping to abolish slavery. The film properly shows how Tubman's actions made her one of the most significant members of the Underground Railroad, as well as becoming an icon of inspiration in American history. The narrative behind the film focuses on Harriet's slavery, her escape from enslavement, and her desire to free others including her own family members. The filmmakers behind the film wanted to show how she went from being an ordinary slave to becoming a Moses type figure in regards to supposedly receiving visions from God due to a blunt head trauma she received as a child. The film shows how her faith helped push her towards performing her heroic deeds by giving her both strength and hope, while inspiring others to follow her. The film also attempts to fill in the missing blanks in regards to the more personal aspects of Tubman's life with the film showing her to be at one point married before being separated, which also led to her escape. The story also shows her attempts to free her family members while setting other slaves free. The moments where Harriet experiences her visions are presented in a way which makes them compelling in showing the audience whats going on both inside and outside of Harriet's mind. Watching the film, it's evident that a great deal of passion and dedication went into telling Tubman's story with the film showing her courage, strength, and tenacity in full force along with presenting a human side to the legend. With the film and Erivo's performance, audiences get to experience the transformation of Tubman from a slave who feared being caught to someone who turned that fear into not only courage but the will to fight for others.
Harriet doesn't tarnish the legacy of Tubman like some reviewers claim. Rather it honors her while giving audiences an understanding of why she chose to break free and help others.
One of the key elements that makes
Harriet work as being a satisfying biography is the terrific performances delivered by the films main cast, particularly Cynthia Erivo in the title role. Erivo is phenomenal as Tubman, delivering all the required emotions in regards to showing the progression of Tubman from slave to freedom fighter. Her character is engaging to watch and provides both the heart and soul of the film. The success of the story being told on the big screen was always going to hinge on the actress chosen to portray the iconic figure, and Erivo proves to be worthy of playing the role. The films other strong performance goes to Leslie Odom Jr as abolitionist William Still, who helps Tubman set free the slaves she rescues from her camp. Joe Alwyn shines as playing Tubman's former slave owner Gideon Brodess, serving as the films main antagonist. Alwyn portrays Brodess as being a character whom the audience automatically despises with him putting Harriet and her family up for sale to keep his farm afloat, while harboring mixed and confused feelings towards Harriet. His character doesn't fit within the white savior narrative that some audiences have claimed his character to be, as he definitely comes across as being the main villain in this story, but is also shown to possibly treat Harriet better than what she would've received from other slave owners due to his complicated history with her. Other strong supporting roles are Clarke Peters and Vanessa Bell Calloway in moving performances as Harriet's parents, Ben and Ritt Ross. Omar J. Dorsey does well as Bigger Long, a slave catcher rumored to be the best in the area whose hired by a vengeful Gideon to pursue Tubman. Henry Hunter Hall does equally well and shines in his performance as bounty hunter Walter, who begins pursuing Tubman at first then becomes an ally once he witnesses her in action. An example is a key scene involving her character leading a group of slaves through a swamp after experiencing a vision, making him believe that God is guiding her. Other notable performances are Joseph Lee Anderson, Antonio J Bell, and CJ Macbeth as Robert, Henry, and Junyah Ross. The cast as a whole does a terrific job of bringing this story to life with the portrayal of the characters not only being interesting but relatable to the audience. Whereas some aspects of the writing may come across as being questionable. the films acting, directing, and visual style always remain on point.
The films directing by Kasi Lemons is strong and well-crafted with Lemons making the story come across as feeling like a personal human drama mixed with quick cut action sequences. At times,
Harriet comes across as feeling like a historical yet female-empowered action movie, especially when the story takes off with her escape from captivity followed by her efforts to free the other slaves. The moments where the actors are given the creative freedom to play out dramatic scenes, are ones that are handled well with the overall executions being hard-hitting. Lemons keeps Harriet's story moving with a brisk yet steady pace with limited amounts of exposition and Harriet's visions being used in both a visually striking and compelling fashion to connect with the real events of the story. These moments, when they arrive, make an already captivating story even more thrilling and eye-opening as the film explores the prophetic side of Tubman's story as well, as the impact her visions had on those around her. The films pacing is perfect for the story as it sets up Harriet's escape from slavery early on, while building on that momentum for the rest of the movie, with the audience feeling the anticipation that she will return to free the rest of the slaves. The cinematography, costume design, and art-set decoration are top notch and brilliantly weaved together to make the film visually appealing along with being emotionally empowering. The moments where the cinematography shines through are those involving Harriet's visions, which include the use of blue lighting, ultimately giving them a commanding presence in the scene. The films score by Terence Blanchard is terrific and goes hand in hand with the films acting and directing. Blanchard strikes the right balance of emotions with his score in helping to drive the moments in the film which showcase Harriet's compassion for others, her fear of being captured while escaping bondage, and her dedication as well as resolve to return to free other slaves. He also manages to bring out the intensity of the scenes where Tubman is being pursued or goes back for the other slaves, making them compelling moments in the film. Whereas the films third act struggles to find it's footing with the rest of the story (It feels rushed and convenient almost like it knew it had to wrap up it's story with limited time to spare), the bulk of the film is steadily paced and directed with a firm hand on the wheel. While Kasi Lemons work most likely won't push her to receive an Oscar nomination for Best directing, she does a solid and worthy job of bringing Harriet Tubman's story to the big screen in a way that feels heartfelt and detailed in ensuring it's properly told.
The films writing by Gregory Allen Howard and director Kasi Lemmons is reasonably decent in terms of transforming Tubman's story into film, but also happens to be the main area where criticism is directed towards it. Given that Howard and Lemmons utilized fictional characters and events to help piece together a coherent story, that flows naturally, they did a reasonably decent job though nothing that warrants a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. One can understand the criticism aimed at the invention of two African-American bounty hunters in the film with no record of them being involved in the actual events surrounding Tubman's life. While their characters can be viewed as individuals who became inspired by Tubman's actions (Particularly the one that joins Tubman in her quest upon seeing the result of her heroic deeds), the other Hunter played by Dorsey comes across as being cold, calculated, and determined to catch Harriet without any regard of the fact that he's essentially pursuing one of his own. The biggest issue that some audiences appear to have with his character is the fact that there is no historical accounting of such a characters involvement in Harriet Tubman's story, though that doesn't mean such a type of character didn't exist in that time period. It's also interesting that audiences have an issue with that character but didn't object to Samuel L. Jackson's character in
Django Unchained. As for the films accusation of it driving a white savior narrative with the character of Gideon Bross, there's not enough evidence in the story with the character to make that claim. He comes across as being a brutal, selfish, manipulative, and evil antagonist in the story. His character is full of sinister intentions and tries to use his past history with Tubman as a way of keeping her from running as shown in the sequence where she makes her escape by jumping off a bridge into a river. The screenplay for
Harriet doesn't perform a disservice to her character by showing these liberties taken with the story, rather they are there to flesh out the story in an attempt to make it more engaging as an action-packed drama based around historical fact.
Harriet's writing is neither a bad nor terrible effort by any means, but can also be considered as feeling standard and by-the-numbers for a biographical drama that makes the story feel padded at times. One can certainly appreciate the effort in showing a more personal side of Tubman compared to the legendary status she holds in both pop culture and American history. One does appreciate that they explored the idea that at one time her character could've been in love and bound to another person, but was prevented from living a happy life due to a life of enslavement.
In
the end, the only crime that
Harriet commits as a film is one in which it does what other historical and biographical dramas have done, which is to show history in a way that's overdramatized, larger than life, and ultimately empowering to watch on the big screen. It doesn't seek to dishonor the person it glorifies, and attempts to take what's already a thrilling piece of history and flesh it out further. The story of Harriet Tubman is presented in a way that honors the real life figure, while showing an experience that was significant and even miraculous given the overwhelming opposition she faced.
Harriet's story is effectively told and stands as being one of the strongest films of the fall heading into award season. It's hard to tell if the movie itself will qualify for any major award nominations given the controversy the film has faced since it's release, but the film is most deserving of nominations for Cynthia Erivo for Best Actress along with nominations for Best Cinematography, Art-Set Decoration, Best Score, and Film Editing. Not everyone will like
Harriet and may take offense to how certain historical elements of the story are portrayed, but others will appreciate and feel empowered that a story as powerful and well-told as Harriet Tubman's, is finally brought to the big screen in a fashion that's appropriate and honorable.
Final Verdict: For both film and history buffs,
Harriet is an experience worth watching and enduring.
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