Jeri Jacquin
On Bluray/DVD and Digital this week from director Kasi
Lemmons and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a story of the run for
freedom with HARRIET.
Minty (Cynthia Erivo) is a young slave woman working
on a plantation married to free man John Tubman (Zackary Momoh). Believing
their time had come to be set free according to a prior agreement, Minty is
upset to learn that the agreement won't be honored by plantation owner Edward
Brodess (Mike Marunde). Angry that she even asked, Brodess orders her sold.
Looking on is son Gideon (Joe Alwyn) who has known Minty since they were
children.
When Minty asks God for answers, Gideon lets it be
known that he also has no intention of honoring his grandfather's agreement.
Knowing that she has no other choice if she is ever to have a life beyond the
fields, Minty plans to make a run north. She also knows that leaving husband
John behind will save his life.
She tells her mother and father goodbye and his final
father order is to visit Reverend Green (Vondie Curtis-Hall) who gives Minty a
mental map to freedom. Not far behind her is Gideon who is not about to let her
go. When the two finally meet, it is on a bridge over a rushing river where she
makes the ultimate decision.
Making her way north, she meets William Still (Leslie
Odom Jr.) who takes notes of slaves who find freedom and asks Minty if she
wants to give herself a new name for her new life. Choosing Harriet Tubman she
meets Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae) who helps her settle in safely and a job.
For the first time, Harriet is free to come and go while making a wage without
fear.
But Harriet can not forget her husband or family left
on the plantation. She makes it clear to William that if she made it north, so
could they. She proves all the nay-sayers wrong and so begins her effort to go
back and forth from south to north taking as many as possible to freedom.
Gideon's father passes and now he is more obsessed
with finding the girl he knows as Minty but Harriet isn't about to stop what
she is doing or be stopped by anyone.
Erivo as Harriet portrays a woman who trusts in her
faith and doesn't let what others think of her get in the way of her goal.
Thinking she is being led one way, it becomes quickly clear that her life would
be dedicated to helping others. Her speech in the company of Frederick Douglas
is what cements the belief that her path is laid out before her with the
Underground Railroad.
Alwyn as Gideon is obsessed with keeping Minty on the
plantation, so much so that he's willing to promise her anything to make that
happen. When she refuses his offer, Gideon starts a mission to do whatever it
takes to get her back. Marude as Brodess is a plantation owner who isn't about
to let one single person leave and teaches that behavior to his son Gideon.
Odom Jr. as Still is a man who does everything he can
to help slaves who manage to get to Philadelphia. Keeping records, he fears for
what Harriet is doing but that's not stopping her! Momoh as Tubman is a free
man who is married to Minty as a slave. Believing that one day the agreement
would be honored, insists that running is the way to go. His life would change
as well when Harriet returns to help family.
Monae as Marie is the first woman in Harriet's life
who teaches her what freedom means and how to fool anyone stopping her in the
south. She is elegant and graceful and, more importantly, an owner of a
business. Curtis-Hall is the Harriet's preacher who also becomes important in
helping slaves fleeing the south.
Other cast include Daphne Reid as Miz Lucy, Clarke
Peters as Ben Ross, Vanessa Calloway as Rit Boss, Omar J. Dorsey as Bigger
Long, Henry Hall as Walter, Tim Guinee as Thomas Garrett, Nick Basta as Foxx,
Joseph Anderson as Robert Ross, Antonio Bell as Henry Ross, CJ McBath as Junyah
Ross, Alexis Louder as Jane, Tory Kittles as Frederick Douglas, and Jennifer
Nettles as Eliza Brodess.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added
an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all
experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are film of every
genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have
to offer please visit www.uphe.com.
MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download
the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or
streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on
Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.
The Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes, Her Story,
Becoming Harriet and Feature Commentary with Director and Co-Writer Kasi
Lemmons.
HARRIET is a riveting story about a woman who defies
the odds of slavery, survival and dangerous trips from south to north to free
other slaves. Keeping it simple in the telling allows the viewer to become
emotionally invested in understanding the life of Harriet.
This is the genre of film that can be an enormously
beneficial teaching tool and hope that teachers will use it. It shows the human
spirit and potential to change the wrongs of the society then and what can be
accomplished now.
In the end - be free or die.
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