Harriet (2019)

[BetterButter]

[Scarlett45]

I am so excited for this. 

[Spartan Girl]

I'm a little fuzzy on the Harriet Tubman history, but didn't she found out that her husband went with another woman when she came back to help him escape?

Whatever.  This movie looks awesome.

[Snow Apple]

I'll be watching this. I got a book about Harriet from elementary school decades ago. I didn't understand a lot of it because the book was above my reading level back then, but I got the gist of it and read it over and over.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Snow Apple

[Scarlett45]

I don’t understand why this isn’t a musical!!!!! 😂😂😂 How do you have Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr AND Cynthia Erivo together not singing. Crime against musical theatre geeks everywhere!

[Dr.OO7]

I can't wait to see this.

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

I don’t understand why this isn’t a musical!!!!! 😂😂😂 How do you have Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr AND Cynthia Erivo together not singing. Crime against musical theatre geeks everywhere!

Maybe they’ll sing spirituals. 

[Dejana]

9 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I don’t understand why this isn’t a musical!!!!! 😂😂😂 How do you have Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr AND Cynthia Erivo together not singing. Crime against musical theatre geeks everywhere!

It would have been easy-there's already an opera based in her life...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet,_the_Woman_Called_Moses

Edited July 25, 2019 by Dejana

[MrsRafaelBarba]

An African-American/ADOS actress should've been cast.

This gets a Hard PASS from me.

[Silver Raven]

Wow, I love this movie.  Cynthia Erivo absolutely killed it, and I hope she gets an Oscar for the role. The movie is intense, and heartbreaking, and extremely well acted. My favorite movie of the year.

Henry Hunter Hall, the actor who plays Walter, is the son of director Kasi Lemmons (and actor Vondie Curtis-Hall, who played the Reverend Green). Despite the nepotism, he was delightful.

[Miss Slay]

I just saw Harriet and it was fantastic. Everyone needs to see this movie because Harriet Tubman was such an important person in our country's history. Honestly, she should have more statues/holidays/ect about her!

Fabulous performances by everyone in the film.

[AimingforYoko]

Whatever problems you may have with Cynthia Erivo in the role, you can't fault the performance (or her voice). It was masterful.

It leaned a little hard into the supernatural for a straight biopic, but dramatic license and all that.

[angora]

Just got back from seeing it. I thought it was great and Cynthia Errivo was fantastic; at the Oscars, they should show the clip of the speech she gave to the abolitionists after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. What an incredible woman who saved so many lives.

There were so many wonderful little details in the film, like Harriet's father not looking when she would return so he could say he "hadn't seen her," Maria teaching Harriet how to behave like a free woman, Reverend Green preaching obedience by day and helping runaways by night, the light-skinned runaway pretending to be the "son" of her master, Harriet crying on her first day of paid work... Loved it.

[Dr.OO7]

I'm going to see this on Tuesday, so I'm glad for the good reviews.

[Silver Raven]

I do have to wonder if the Fugitive Slave Act went into effect immediately upon passage.  Laws usually don't go into effect in the exact same day they're passed.

[Dr.OO7]

I literally just saw it.

PHENOMENAL.

I can't wait to see it get snubbed come Oscar time.

Seriously, though, I can't wait to see it again.

[SimoneS]

I am going on Friday. I am glad to read all the positive reactions about the movie.

[Browncoat]

I just got back from seeing this, and I really liked it!  The woman who played Harriet was amazing -- such an expressive face and voice.  And I learned a few things, too.  I had no idea Harriet played such a huge part in the Civil War.  Off to read more about her now.

[Dr.OO7]

This New York Post article https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2019/11/04/harriet-sees-backlash-despite-box-office-success/amp/ annoys me. There's no "White Savior"--something I'm incredibly impressed by--and Harriet most certainly does NOT forgive Gedeon, she just decides not to kill him, so I don't know what people are complaining about.

[SimoneS]

I just got back. Wow, it was much better than I expected. I really enjoyed it. The people in my theater really got into it, rooting on Harriet and cheering when enslaved people ran to freedom. We clapped at the end also.

Cynthia Erivo was so good. I know there was controversy about her casting because she is British, but she was perfect as was her singing. I loved seeing Leslie Odom, Jr. in such a major role. He is so talented. He should be a bigger star. Same with Clarke Peters who I loved since The Wire. Janelle Monae gave a solid performance as usual. I was crushed when Marie was brutally murdered. I thought something romantic would have happened between Harriet and William, but nope.

The movie had so many wonderful moments. I loved how the man knew Harriet was hiding in his cart and helped her escape, and then later it turned out he was Amish and he and his wife were part of the Underground Railroad. And the triumphant moment when Harriet walked and jumped into freedom. I liked how the men she encountered in Philadelphia knew that she had escaped and helped her, her heartbreak when she found out that her husband had remarried, William's astonished reaction to her arrival with her siblings and other escapees, seeing the other enslaved people who heard about her and ran to the pastor's church to seek their freedom. I practically cheered when all the freed Black men and their white allies stood in front of the slaveowners and bounty hunters with guns pointed to protect the former enslaved people who were fleeing to Canada.

Harriet's speech at the abolition meeting at Senator Seaward's house was so inspiring. I loved that the young bounty hunter chose a different path becoming her ally and partner. Then there was her mother's reaction to seeing her alive and her rescue of her parents and niece. Harriet was fierce. Like others, I had no idea that Harriet lead military rescue missions during the Civil War. It was wonderful seeing her lead those men to save so many enslaved people. Slavery really is America's original sin. We should never forget or gloss over its brutality and inhumanity.

The only part of the movie that I didn't much care for was Harriet's fits and visions. They could have omitted those. 

Edited November 9, 2019 by SimoneS

[Silver Raven]

3 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

The only part of the movie that I didn't much care for was Harriet's fits and visions. They could have omitted those. 

But it was true to Harriet's life.  She actually had those spells.

[SimoneS]

Just now, Silver Raven said:

But it was true to Harriet's life.  She actually had those spells.

I didn't know that. Okay, I take it back. They just felt over the top. Guess, truth is really stranger than fiction sometimes. 

[Dejana]

So, this happened 25 years ago, but really?!

[Dr.OO7]

1 hour ago, Dejana said:

So, this happened 25 years ago, but really?!

I was just about to post that. What the hell?

[Spartan Girl]

Oh for the love of...I can't even...just...WHAT THE EVERLOVING HELL?!!!! 

What did they mean "it was so long ago nobody would notice"?!  Harriet Tubman was BLACK, everyone knows that!!  I mean...Jesus!

Edited November 20, 2019 by Spartan Girl
Because I wasn't done

[Dr.OO7]

Congratulations to Cynthia Erivo on her Golden Globe nominations.

But boo on the committee for snubbing the film for everything else. I was sarcastic when I mentioned it being shunned come award time, but with it not being nominated for Picture or Director, it looks like I was right.

ETA that the shunning continues with a SAG nomination for Erivo. . . and nothing else.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Camille

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations:

Best Actress – Cynthia Erivo

Best Song – Stand Up

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Cynthia Erivo

[Dr.OO7]

Maybe I shouldn't have snarked about this movie being snubbed come awards season, because it's happening, what with it not winning either of the Golden Globes it was nomination for.

[Dr.OO7]

And it's happened again, with the only two Oscar nominations--Best Actress and Best Song.

Would it have killed them to nominate Kasi Lemmons for Director and the film for Best Picture? Jeez. 

[Spartan Girl]

Finally saw this with my mom and we both loved it. And fuck yeah, this should have gotten more award nominations, especially Best Director.

Cynthia was fantastic. And she got to use that beautiful voice! I know she probably won't win Best Actres (though she should) but I hope she at least gets more movie offers.

I did a report on Harriet Tubman when I was in elementary school, so I was familiar with most of her story. The stuff about her husband remarrying another woman after she escaped I remember quite vividly because even back then I thought it was horrible. But they way they portrayed it in the movie, I couldn't help feeling bad for him. I mean, he did think she was dead and it had been a year and all. Not to mention her sister did the exact same thing when her husband escaped with Harriet and her brothers. It still sucks and I felt terrible for Harriet. But she found someone else eventually, so.

But I totally forgot that Harriet was a spy for the Union army! So badass!

[andromeda331]

Just watched it. What a great movie! Harriet was so awesome. An amazing escape to the north. I liked seeing the various people that helped. Her going back to get her husband and how that turned out. It stinked. But she ends up coming back with her brothers and few other people. I love her reaction to Philadelphia to William and Marie. I liked that William was writing down names and histories of slaves. The one slave who passed herself off as her daddy's son. A really great movie.