198 - Harriet

Eavesdropping at the Movies

A truly deserved biopic, Harriet tells the story of the escaped slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who served as part of the Underground Railroad, undertaking several journeys to liberate around 70 slaves, and later serving as in the Union Army during the American Civil War (this latter part of her life forming the film's coda, as its focus is her escape to Philadelphia and rescue missions). Despite its obvious value, though, it's poorly told story, with a depiction of Tubman's devout religiousness and prophetic visions that serves to confuse more than express or inspire, and too little tension in what are really action scenes, too little sense of hardship in Tubman's escape, work, and life. We try to keep in mind that our relationship to Tubman's story is distanced, that its importance as a black narrative and feminist narrative is easy for us to be blind to when all we can see are flaws, but ultimately we find the film a let-down. Recorded on 2nd December 2019.