Harriet is coming. November 1st, the story of icon and abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman hits the big screen. Directed by Kasi Lemmons, co-written by Lemmons and Gregory Allen Howard (Ali), and lensed by legendary John Toll, Harriet stars Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe, and Joe Alwyn.
From Wikipedia:
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822[1] – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, family and friends,[2] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the United States Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the struggle for women’s suffrage.
Born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate slave owner threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. She was a devout Christian and experienced strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God.
In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or “Moses”, as she was called) “never lost a passenger”.[3] After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide fugitives farther north into British North America, and helped newly freed slaves find work. Tubman met John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.
When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After she died in 1913, she became an icon of courage and freedom.
Kasi Lemmons is one of my fave directors. I wondered what she’s been doing and where she’s been. Last time I saw one of her movies, Black Nativity. She’s one of those directors who never works enough and doesn’t get recog’d.
This? I dunno. I’m a little overdone with slave movies. After 12 Years I said, that’s it for me. I tried to watch the Underground on WGNTV, but got bored with it all.
Eviro seems too miscast & wooden to me. Guess they’ll have to go the White guilt/Academy is racist route to score.
This trailer didn’t look great, but I feel like this film has two paths anyway so quality might not matter. Path one is the all-out Best Picture contender, but I feel this is going to go for the other path – the Iron Lady approach of bee-lining for performance awards and ignoring the broader periphery.
This isn’t a perfect trailer but it definitely has the air of a big competitor. This is the first trailer I’ve seen where I have some confidence it’ll be an at least decent sized player awards season.
Everyone : It takes decades to complete the EGOT.
Cynthia Erivo : Does it though ?
I just hope the film is great or at least good enough not to hurt her Oscar bid.
Also : With the Harriet and Judy trailers out and The Woman in the Window pushed to next year, I guess once we have the Little Women trailer later this week, we may just have a slightly better picture of the Best Actress race. Super early but sight unseen I would make the hunch based guess that it will be down to Erivo, Zellweger and Ronan in the end, with the one in the BP nominee winning.
I am not convinced this one will be even a player at Oscar night. Too obvious Oscar bait, and the AMPAS is aiming for more interesting, less obvious stuff in the last decade (Moonlight, Mad Max Fury Road, just to name a couple of examples… Selma, for example was nominated for only TWO… ). I would say that Bohemian Rhapsody even wasn’t that much of an obvious pick, from the trailer, only when the film opened we could see the potential of a multiple Oscar winner…
Mixed feelings about this trailer. Can be another “12 Years a Slave” or not. Let’s wait for the reviews and audience reaction.
Might have had too high of expectations for this. I thought movie would be frontrunner status and she would win. Based on that trailer neither is happening. Looks like a made for TV movie to me. Bummer. Hopefully I’m wrong.