I
remember I once read an article discussing famous Black people from history and
speculating on the oddly-distant relationship Hollywood has with them. Martin
Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks – these iconic people with stories
everyone knows, why don’t each have multiple biopics dedicated to them? The
article posited that it’s because these vitally-important figures from history
have been Black History Month-ified. Essentially, every American school teaches
a cursory look at these figures every February, and so even though most of
these lessons keep covering the same beats (“I Have a Dream” speech,
Underground Railroad, Montgomery bus boycott,) the perception is that the
general public feels very “been there, done that” with their extraordinary stories
and so there’s no need to dramatize them. Luckily, Harriet disagrees with that sentiment.
Learning
she’s about to be sold away from her husband and family, a young slave woman
called Minty flees from Maryland to Pennsylvania. There, she chooses a new name
for herself, Harriet Tubman, and begins life as a free woman. However, Harriet
can’t stop thinking about those she left behind and sneaks back to the South,
first in the hopes of helping her family escape, then as many slaves as she
can.
To circle
back to the Black History Month idea, watching this movie made me realize just
how much of Harriet Tubman’s story I didn’t know. The perennial lessons in
school covered a lot of the basics of her time with the Underground Railroad,
and I remember getting emphasis in the higher grades about the dangers involved
in her heroic work. I also remember details like the “spells” that resulted
from a childhood head trauma at the hands of an overseer, and that she
considered them visions from God. But I had no idea, for instance, that she was
married to a free man while she was still a slave, among plenty of other
particulars, and while I remember hearing that she was a Union spy during the
Civil War, I don’t think I was ever taught anything about what that entailed.
The film
fills in many of those gaps, fleshing out Harriet from a “Black History Month
figure” to a complex person who lived an incredible life and gave tremendously
of herself for the sake of others. While it seems it fudge the timeline at
different points and probably magnifies Harriet’s interactions with certain
characters (it seems her master’s adult son’s years-long obsession with
tracking her down is an invention for the sake of the dramatic narrative,) it
also informs a lot and, even more importantly, creates a strong picture of the
Antebellum U.S., both southern plantations and the secret northern networks to
free slaves.
To the
latter point, I love the small details woven into the film that I wouldn’t have
thought of. I like how Harriet interacts with Black people in the North who
were born free, where even those sympathetic to her background don’t know what
it’s really like to have been a slave. I like how spirituals are woven into the
story, showing ways in which they were used as coded messages for slaves hoping
to escape. I like how Harriet and the others employ different strategies to
evade capture.
Cynthia
Erivo (who won a very well-deserved Tony for playing Celie in the Color Purple revival a few years ago)
does a fantastic job as Harriet. She shows just how tough, determined, and
brave this woman was, but she shows us so much beyond that in small moments
too, whether it’s quietly claiming her dignity or devastatingly realizing that
someone she loves isn’t ready to run. The film also features Leslie Odom Jr.
(Aaron Burr!) as fellow Underground Railroad conductor William Still, Janelle
Monáe as a free woman who befriends Harriet in the North, and Clarke Peters
(Freamon from The Wire) in an
affecting performance as Harriet’s father.
Warnings
Violence,
language (including racial slurs,) and strong thematic elements.
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