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HARRIET (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

OVERALL SCORE ★★★☆☆

     GENERAL ENJOYMENT ★★★☆☆

     EMOTIONAL ★★★☆☆

     MUSIC ★★★★☆

     CINEMATOGRAPHY ★★★☆☆

     SET PIECES/STYLING ★★★★☆

  Today I travelled 32 minutes by bus to see the movie Harriet in theatres, by myself because it was a Friday night and all of my friends and roommates were either going home or busy. I had to travel so far because only one theatre in my general area was showing it. Still, I really wanted to watch it, so I made the journey. I’m not even sure why - I really like watching movies in theatres and was in the mood for one, since I haven’t seen one in so long, but I hadn’t even heard about the movie until maybe last week when I saw it show up on listings. But something drew me to it. I never learned much about Harriet Tubman other than she was a runaway slave who was part of the Underground railroad. I learned a lot about slavery and how it was wrong, of course - but it was still very dry, very quick, and not very sympathetic. I wanted to know more (and enjoy a movie) so I went.

  Now, onto the actual movie. Harriet is directed by Kasi Lemmons and stars Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, or Araminta Ross. It begins first with her life as a slave, but almost immediately she escapes after the death of her slave owner. She manages to make it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and we see how she is integrated into this new life. She’s struggling, mainly with the guilt and loneliness of leaving her friends, family, and the only life she’s ever known, so she goes back to her plantation and ends up helping more slaves escape. She realises she not only is quite gifted at rescuing these people, but begins to understand that it’s something she wants - was almost born - to do. But as we know, especially with this topic, free is never truly free, because it always comes with a price.

  This movie is not amazing, or the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it had quite a lot to offer in inspiration and helping to show a part of history that, at least in my experience of a white American who was taught in majority white schools, is regarded as acknowledged but never really understood. Within the movie, I never felt truly in the moment or incredibly engaged with what was going on - but this is an autobiography covering a very large portion of Harriet Tubman’s life. I was still invested in the characters, their fates and their actions, and there was always a good amount of suspension and drama, but there was a lot that was left up to the audience to decide - time gaps, character’s emotions, developing relationships. It’s not a movie that will spoon feed you, which is good, but there is once or twice where something happens that makes you feel weird and removed you from the story- why is she saying that, what’s so important about this? As stated, I knew almost nothing about Harriet before watching the movie, so I was quite surprised about a couple of things as well. The movie was quite religion-focused, which I had not been expecting, but it is true to Harriet Tubman’s life, as she was very religious and it impacted her life as an abolitionist.

  Something I didn’t like, however, was that there was a strange focus on her relationship with Gideon, the son of her original slave owner. He acted as the antagonist of the movie - the bad guy who was trying to capture her, but also a sort of one sided (on his part) love interest? I felt like he and his role in general was very unnecessary. It was what made the movie good, not great. It made it seem as though they were trying to push drama and intrigue, that it couldn’t be only about Harriet vs Slavery (which I think is a mistake, as doing so would have led it down a very interesting path) but there had to be a villain, they had to make this guy be interested in her and chase her down specifically. It devalued it, and made it seem formulaic and hallmark rather than truly arthouse or thought-provoking.

  These flaws were all mostly overshadowed by what I did like about the movie, which boils down to my own personal connection and take away from it. It Impacted me, made me read the Wikipedia article about Harriet Tubman and reevaluate my life. There were a lot of great and emotional scenes that made you truly understand the struggle the slaves went through, opened your eyes to the injustice and cruelty and this absolute horrible scourge in American history. It made you think about the true meaning of freedom, what it means to be human and a woman and an African American (and for those things that you are not, you sympathized with their struggle and understood their thoughts and actions though of course you could never truly know what it was like). For me personally, it was very inspiring. It didn’t drag on and on about how amazing Harriet was (although it’s a movie about someone quite amazing, so of course there’s going to be a bit of that) but seeing her struggle and determination, you couldn’t help but be in awe. It pushed a message of pushing boundaries and not letting anyone stop you - and while some of it was attributed to the idea of “God showed me the way”, it wasn’t shoved down your throat or pushed as the only reason Harriet Tubman could do the things she did.

  Over all, I thought this movie was generally entertaining and a good watch. I would definitely recommend this movie because of its importance in spreading understanding about this topic and Harriet Tubman specifically. If you want to learn more about this topic, it’s a good starting point, and if you want to watch something inspiring or that will change the way you think, I would recommend it even if you don’t care about history or the topic. I think this movie was just that- a good introduction, but I think Harriet Tubman and other African-American men and women deserve better for the incredible weight of their accomplishments.

SPOILERS AHEAD!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As I stated, I knew nothing about Harriet Tubman before watching this other than the basics. So, at first, I was really put off by the whole “premonition” aspect, especially later on in the movie where it becomes specific enough that she would be “told” to go left instead of straight. I thought it was kind of outrageous, that they thought audiences couldn’t possibly enjoy a movie about history without there being some “science fiction”, “magical abilities” aspect. After reading about Harriet Tubman, I realize that this is actually something she did or that happened to her in life, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it did as I was watching.It seemed very over the top because it was also marked by this cadence of piano and magical like jingle, but I did enjoy the way it sounded in a weird way. It also was vague enough that when you saw these flashes, you as the audience didn’t immediately know “x was going to happen”, and you only really started to understand as it was happening. It did well to keep the tension up for the watcher.

  We are introduced to Harriet’s life very abruptly, dropped into the world to figure out for ourselves what is going on, and I think that approach was best for a movie where so many of its audience already know the basics. Of course, it did come with a few flaws - I didn’t realize who her family actually was except for her mother and the sister who was sold further down south until the end of the movie/I read more about her. I wasn’t sure, at first, how to feel about her wanting to run away so suddenly - I think it might have been more impactful to have shown what escaping meant both for her, personally, as well as the repercussions. It seemed so easy for her to just up and leave - and while I realize the movie wasn’t focused so much on that aspect, I think it missed a big chance in really giving this idea of slaves escaping more weight. Slaves running away was a very big thing, a very dangerous thing to do, and a lot of slaves, sadly, did not make it. It seemed such an easy thing when what Harriet Tubman and all fugitive slaves did was extraordinary.

  Gideon’s involvement in the whole movie is, as far as I know (which, as stated, is not much) very dramatized for Hollywood’s benefit, I think. This idea that he’s obsessed with her, almost in love with her as he says later in the movie, is so absolutely cringey. It could have just been left as her former owner attempting to get her back for not only running away but taking so many of his slaves with her, but it was made to be some sort of love dynamic? I just thought it could have easily been left out. Slavery, and the ignorance and hatred that came with it, was so prevalent in this time that it almost diminishes it’s importance to have this one person be the “worst of it all”, and especially for him to have a special interest and reason to be chasing after Harriet. Almost everyone, at this time, was out to get them, everyone was against them; but in the movie it seemed only like this one specific group.

  I was actually very surprised to see Janelle Monae in this film, although it was a welcome sight. I think the dichotomy and relationship between them worked very well - Marie, born free, and Harriet, only recently become free. Scenes like Marie seeing Harriet’s scars, and Harriet questioning Marie about what it’s like to be free and how she can’t know what Harriet’s been through, really resonated with me. How it must feel for Harriet to know there are people like Marie that are free, when her and her family are treated so horribly. How, then, could Harriet sit idly by? How could she see that freedom and happiness is possible, and not follow the urge to help those she cares about most?

  Harriet going back for her husband, only to find he had married another woman, actually came as quite a shock to me. Cynthia Ervo’s acting in this scene, and throughout the movie, was incredible. In the lack of the story’s own indication as to what Harriet was feeling, Cynthia Ervo was still somehow able to show between the lines, express such subtle emotions and thoughts that you knew how Harriet felt and sympathized with her. It was a joy to watch, as well as to hear when she sang. The subtle weaving of music into the movie, from the historically-accurate idea that slaves sang to communicate messages as well as the way it was used to connect scenes and heighten emotional moments, was used quite well.

  Another thing I wish to mention was that the styling for this movie was amazing. I don’t know how historically accurate it was or anything like that, but the outfits that Harriet and others (Marie, Gideon, Still) had were so beautiful. I think it added a small but memorable touch to the movie - she was usually dressed in darks and neutrals, but in the final scenes, where she faces Gideon, she is dressed in an emboldened red.

  I think this movie could have been a lot more, and I had been hoping for it to be a lot more, but it wasn’t bad. It was rather bland, melodramatic at times, and very “Hollywood”, but I think it is an important movie for representation and educating people on these topics. It changes the way you think, and I think it was worth the watch.

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