Images courtesy Focus Features.
8/10 Harriet is the platonic ideal of what all Oscarbate movies want to be and is genuine enough to not drive me up a wall.
The film follows the completely true life story of Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo), born Minty Ross, a slave in Southeastern Maryland who escaped to freedom in Philadelphia along the Underground Railroad, then went back 13 more times and brought an estimated 70 more slaves back with her, then, during the Civil War, helped lead the Combahee River Raid, freeing hundreds more.
Tubman believed she received visions from God that guided her on her journeys, which is speculated have been the result of brain damage from a severe beating she received as a child. Whatever the cause, she was noted by peers for her uncanny ability to avoid danger and became a semi-religious figure, even being known by the moniker “Moses” during her time as an outlaw.
