Harriet: Leader of the Underground Soap Opera

When movies get made depicting historical events, they aren’t always depicted correctly. With the case of Harriet the audience doesn’t really get a sense of who Harriet Tubman really is. The movie gives her back story about being close with her slave owners son and the family falling on dark times and having to sell her family. She runs away and fakes her death then the movie forgets about Harriet for about 30 min.

Cynthia Erivo stars as Harriet Tubman and she isn’t bad but not anything special either. The movie makes good use of Cynthia’s singing voice. The script for this movie feels like a television soap opera, with its silly dialogue and dramatic music. The movie briefly shows Harriet using the Underground Railroad to free slaves and fades to black with text on screen about the rest of her life. The audience deserves a better representation. 🍔