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One Movie Punch


Nov 11, 2019

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to Matinee Mondays. I’ve been super excited for this film since I saw the first trailer, because it tells the story of one of my personal heroes, a real-life superhero that fought against a despicable practice. I’ll save the rest of my thoughts about “Harriet” for the review, but for a few other films about the historical black experience, although a little later on, check out “If Beale Street Could Talk” (Episode #465) and “BlacKKKlansman” (Episode #225). 

Before the review, we’ll have a promo from the DC High Podcast. Every episode, D & C deliver a high-school themed bunch of edutainment. One Movie Punch actually won homecoming for our promo entry earlier this year. Don’t miss their guest review on One Movie Punch for “Hatchet” (Episode #613), where they took some perfectly normal kids on a perfectly normal haunted swamp tour. 

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Here we go! 

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<< DC HIGH PROMO >>

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Today’s movie is “Harriet”, the historical action drama directed by Kasi Lemmons and written for the screen in collaboration with Gregory Allen Howard, based on a story by Gregory Allen Howard. The film follows the incredible life of Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo), as she escapes slavery, only to return to free her family and many others as one of the most successful conductors on the Underground Railroad.

No spoilers. 

I have been waiting a very long time for a well-produced rendition of the life of Harriet Tubman. It seems unfathomable that more films have not been made about Tubman, considering her amazing story as a slave-turned-abolitionist. “Harriet” is the first film to hit the big screen, but previous versions have been made for television, or as short, educational films. And yet, I didn’t really learn about Harriet Tubman until I went to college, with all my small-town education about the Civil War focused on battles and dates and that slavery was either tragic or horrific, depending on the teacher. I read Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”, from cover to cover, learning just about all the blind spots in my historical education. People like to call it getting “woke”, but I have always seen it as simply being educated. 

It actually lead me to a fascination with slave narratives, just some of the voices highlighted in Zinn’s work, along with noted anarchists, union organizers, progressive leaders, civil rights activists, and more. Entire courses are now offered that examine the slave narratives collected before abolition became the law of the land. Solomon Northup’s narrative “Twelve Years A Slave” was adapted in 2013 for the big screen, along with narratives about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in the 2016 film entitled “The Birth of a Nation”, a wry and perhaps ill-advised attempt to take back the title from the original silent film that served as KKK propaganda. Slave narratives have a number of commonalities, as the treatment of slaves was often brutal, especially those raised within slavery. They also have a number of differences, and any adaptations need to strike the right balance in featuring both aspects of their story. It’s something that “Harriet” does pretty well, most of the time.

Stories about our heroes are often embellished as time goes on. Actual events are first perfected into stories shared about that event, then with each retelling, sometimes fueled by alcohol, the story gets more and more outrageous, like a fisherman’s tale. Society unconsciously mythologizes our heroes, at least until the advent of audio and video capture that have directly challenged those narratives. We can watch this conflict happen in real-time on news networks, when spin collides with fact and is spun out once again. We can also see it in the recently deceased heroes of today, like Morihei Ueshiba, also known as O’Sensei, the founder of Aikido would could apparently carry 500 pounds weights all day and was able to dodge bullets. 

The Harriet Tubman of “Harriet” is definitely being mythologized, building off the stories that Harriet experienced premonitions from God that aided her escape and work on the Underground Railroad. Quite often, Harriet suffers these spells, and her faith in God is featured quite heavily. It’s a point of contention for many scholars, because while religious faith was a guiding force for many, it was also a tool of control used quite often by slaveowners to control their slaves, which we get just the briefest taste of in the opening scenes. Cynthia Erivo plays this version of Harriet Tubman very well, however, evolving from an anguished slave into a leader with conviction, with more than a few excellently framed shots. Kasi Lemmons works with an incredible crew to recreate the time period, utilizing historical landmarks and preserved portions of cities and towns. 

There are different ways to make a biopic. You can cover someone’s entire life, from birth to death, meticulously hitting every formative event in their life for however much time you have to fill. You can cover just the highlights in someone’s life, getting right to the good parts, and playing those up. Or you can focus on a single, significant event in one person’s life, with perhaps some relevant setup and aftermath. “Harriet” decides on the middle approach, telling a story that feels more like Tubman’s greatest hits than enough to really develop her character and her experience. It also plays fast and loose with some historical dates and events, as is often the case to present a messy story from reality into the polished medium of film, although the inclusion of a black slavecatcher felt like an odd choice. 

Tubman’s life is simply too much to show and tell for a single film. My major criticism with the film is that I felt rushed from one event to the next, never really getting the opportunity to breathe, which might be accurate for Tubman’s experience of running, but not a great viewing experience. If I had my druthers, I would actually like to see three films. The first film would show us what slavery was like and would end with her daring escape, so that when Tubman does remind the Underground Railroad about the slave experience, we can be reminded of that experience instead of just intellectually agreeing with her point of view. The second film would be her working as a conductor, with multiple missions instead of the montage of victories we get to see in this version. And the third film would be her fighting in the Civil War, centered around the raid on Harper’s Ferry, not just a single scene tacked on before the closing outro montage. I’d also be open to an ongoing series, but definitely much more than a single film, especially for folks eager to see what they already know about her life. 

“Harriet” is a wide-reaching look at the life of Harriet Tubman, from her escape from slavery to her work on the Underground Railroad. Kasi Lemmons brings together a well-crafted historical drama, with an excellent lead performance by Cynthia Erivo, but in taking a greatest hits approach, leaves very little room to breathe. Historical drama fans, and folks anxious to see Harriet Tubman on the big screen will not be disappointed. Folks who don’t know much about Harriet Tubman will want to know more. And folks who know about Harriet Tubman might wish to have seen more in the film. However, I think everyone should see it, to learn about this amazing woman, and a personal hero of mine.

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Metacritic: 66

One Movie Punch: 7.6/10 

“Harriet” (2019) is rated PG-13 and is currently playing in theaters.