4130_d012_00122_rc1570572572
Harriet is in Berlin cinemas now. Photo: Focus Features
A well-meaning but ultimately bland adventure story that feels like a missed opportunity.
It’s surprising that no film had been made about Harriet Tubman, a vital figure in American history who rescued hundreds of slaves and was a key player in the abolitionist Underground Railroad movement. Expectations were therefore high for the extraordinary tale of one of America’s greatest heroes. Sadly, Kasi Lemmons’ biopic ends up as a well-meaning but ultimately bland adventure story that can’t help but feel like a missed opportunity.
After some stellar performances in Bad Times At The El Royale and Widows, Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo is a perfect casting choice for the legendary ‘conductor’, and gives the film all she’s got. However, the tonal shifts from origin story to melodrama via some by-the-numbers action film beats prove to be jarring, and the overall lack of ambition or genuine insight is baffling. You get the impression the figure would have been better served by focusing on a specific period of her life, as opposed to a wider portrait. Here’s hoping we’ll get a less conventional film about Tubman, who deserves a far stronger vehicle than this underwhelming biopic.
Harriet / Directed by Kasi Lemmons (US, 2019), with Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr. Starts July 09.