Cynthia Erivo stars as Harriet Tubman in HARRIET, a Focus Features release. Credit: Glen Wilson
Directed by: Kasi Lemmons
Screenplay by: Gergory Allen Howard and Kasi Lemmons
Story by: Gregory Allen Howard
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, Janelle Monae
History has a way of repeating itself. Particularly now.
As the generations behind me struggle to clean up the messes left by the generations in front of them, there is a desire to free those who live in tyranny. Whether you’re thinking politically about the current Administration or you’re thinking of those who are mistreated by the law and seek to be equal, the fight that abolitionist Harriet Tubman started in 1849 still lives on today.
As Harriet, Cynthia Erivo (“Bad Times at the El Royale,” “Widows”) is absolutely dynamite; the look in her eyes as she squares off with Joe Alwyn’s Gideon Brodess, or William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), the film treats Ms. Tubman as free. She knows better and the intelligence behind the character’s eyes are a direct reflection of co-writer and director, Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou”).
There’s a sense of urgency from the opening frame as Harriet tries to free herself and her husband, John (Zackary Momoh) along with her father Ben (Clarke Peters) and mother, Rit (Vanessa Bell Calloway). There’s an equal sense of energy coming from their slave owners, who seek to keep them exactly where they are.
Erivo channels the energy given by Lemmons and co-writer Gregory Allen Howard to break free. The night scenes during her escape are treacherous as cinematographer John Toll (“Legends of the Fall,” “Bravehart”) captures the essence of her energy to escape.
Leaving her family behind, she makes her way to Philadelphia where she meets Mr. Still and Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monáe). Though there are moments of tenderness as she realizes she is safe, the character’s altruistic nature wants to get right back in to action to free her family.
Lemmons had all the right ideas about how to present Harriet to a modern audience who might not remember her efforts to free slaves. Erivo carries the manifestation of the risk and the danger Tubman put herself through to ensure that those who could be saved were saved.
“Harriet” strives too much to be about Harriet’s journey that the story loses sight of why her journey was such an important point in our collective history. In fact, I learned a thing or two, so it gets points for that.
Ms. Erivo, whose grace and poise on the screen impressed last year not once, but twice, does it a third time. While “Harriet” does justice her legacy, the story seemed generic enough that it pulls away from what it set out to do, though Ms. Erivo’s performance is a strong reason to see the film in theaters.
2 out of 4
