★★
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Classification: 12A
Despite powerful historical standing and reputation, the first cinematic portrayal of legendary American hero Harriet Tubman is left lacking from substandard editing, directing and distracting tonal inconsistencies. Even with a captivating lead performance from Cynthia Erivo as the slave turned abolitionist champion of the people, most of Harriet doesn't feel substantial or creative with the material. Director Kasi Lemmons, who also co-wrote the screenplay goes for the tamest and least controversial portrayals of slavery and racism, the film lacking a raw intensity such as a film like 12 Years a Slave. The film has this formulaic approach to the drama, nothing memorable about Tubman's story strikes out in the film bar a few sequences of Tubman's work for the underground railroad. The relationships with her family, her husband, her colleagues and the antagonist Gideon Brodess just feels so generic and honestly 'made for tv' feel that doesn't do much to make Harriet Tubman's story as epic as it should be.
The main issue with the film is Lemmons structuring of the narrative and the haphazard editing from Wyatt Smith for time and geography seem to be an afterthought in Tubman's courageous journey. It is very difficult to keep track of the passing years and cross country caravans as eventually, Tubman travels across America, helping runaway slaves reach Philadelphia to Leslie Odom Jr.'s William Still, a free black man and fellow abolitionist. The first half of the film is pretty simple to follow during Tubman's experiences at the Brodess plantation and her eventual escape but when the film begins to explore underground railroad and larger abolitionist movements, the scale of this history buckles under the script's generic structure. Harriet, especially in its third act, moves from state to state, year to year with little cohesion leaving audiences struggling as the film embraces more of an action thriller vibe with Tubman battling slave catchers. Smith's editing just bounces from scene to scene with no concurrent structure, the majority of the film are characters wandering through woods and supposed critical elements to the plot are just shoved in when needed rather than set up and paid off. Cataclysm events threatening Tubman's safety and survival don't have necessary dramatic or historical weight, Harriet never really feels like you are transported into this woman's powerful pilgrimage from slave to inspirational heroine rather it's witnessing poor community theatre of these events. This disheartening feeling coming from the film as it does the bare minimum and believing that's enough to honour this history where it hardly scratches the surface of what makes it so captivating.
Harriet does address Tubman's powerful faith and makes direct comparisons of Tubman's odyssey with the story of Exodus. The moniker 'Moses' is given to her, as a result, of her remarkable success in bringing around 70 slaves to freedom during her career as a 'conductor' for the underground railroad. The film, however, addresses the character's spirituality and perception of faith in an underwhelming and jaded fashion. Tubman as a child received a head injury which left her suffering from sudden bouts of dizziness and hypersomnia where Tubman would just lose consciousness. History states that during these spells, Tubman would experience premonitions and believed it was the voice of God speaking to her, reaffirming her strong religious beliefs and saw her injury as a gift rather than a disability. In Harriet, these religious subtexts to this story are an afterthought as Lemmons and Wright directly intercut footage into Tubman's visions to make it appear she was a psychic. This characteristic is treated like a superpower rather than a spiritual grounding as the film rarely explores Tubman's faith in a deeply personal way and how it connects to her family and outlook on the world. There is no ambiguity to what Tubman's visions mean or an attempt to make these sequences divine or ethereal, it robs Harriet of its thematic connection to hope and belief triumphing over hate and fear.
The entire film is just a tired and unfocused exercise in turning compelling history into generic action drama as Harriet takes on too much conventional storytelling tropes that just dilutes the rich potential of this woman's phenomenal biography. The performances do enough to keep the film from being a complete bore but the structure of the whole film lets down Erivo and the rest of the ensemble. No one is given an opportunity to tap into something real, everything feels artificial and the result of a long arduous development process that makes the film feel like it was made out of necessity rather than passion.
Director: #KasiLemmons
Cast: #CynthiaErivo, #LeslieOdomJr, #JoeAlwyn, #JanelleMonáe, #JenniferNettles, #VanessaBellCalloway, #VondieCurtisHall, #ClarkePeters
Release Date: November 22nd 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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