Review of Harriet (2019) by Greatmartin — 01 Nov 2019

I knew very little about Harriet Taubman and except for the ending credits I didn't learn more about her. I was caught up in the movie, and the performance of Cynthia Erivo as Harriet aka Misty and Moses, until her first time as a leader sneaking slaves from Baltimore to Philadelphia.

It has been said that Harriet had been beaten so badly as a child, including having a metal weight thrown at her head, that gave her a traumatic head wound that would make have her strange visions and revelations from God. Without getting into a discussion of religion her walking across, not on, a river took me out of the movie and the other visions and too many coincidences.

From the beginning, and through the movie, there is a repeated scene of 3 girls being taken away from their family and somehow until just now when I read wikipedia about Harriet Taubman I didn't know that they were her sisters.

"Harriet" in many ways is a by the book, Hollywood biography and skips many heavy issues regarding slavery, the Underground Railroad, how both black and white societies worked for and against her and what I was expecting to be a very emotional movie. We don't get to know what she is thinking or feeling before, during and/or after her 'visions'.

I am glad I went to see "Harriet" because it made me more interested into getting her true story, if it is known, and the performance by Cynthia Erivo plus some very strong performances from supporting performers.