This is a movie that needed to be made. I don't mean this movie specifically, but a movie about Harriet Tubman, definitely.
What needs to be known and what needs to be said is that Harriet was an amazing woman no matter what. She assisted dozens of slaves in escaping to freedom, that is enough to be considered a hero. So, whether she did so in an authoritarian way, in a sage way, or in a simple way, none of that enhances or detracts from what she did.
I say that because they made Harriet a prophet of sorts in the movie. Her ability to elude capture was aided by her clairvoyance as much as it was aided by benevolent people and her sheer force of will. I will plead ignorance to Harriet being somewhat prescient, but I have never heard that narrative. If that was a dramatization, then it was so unnecessary. This woman was incredible and achieved incredible feats regardless if she was precognitive or not.
This addition to the Harriet Tubman story didn't derail the movie. It was an annoyance but one that could be overlooked. What I couldn't easily overlook were two characters. One was Walter (Henry Hunter Hall) and the other was Bigger Long (Omar J. Dorsey). Let me explain.
Harriet was escaping through the woods with a group in tow. At the same time, Walter, a (presumably free) black man was in those woods spying on them. But he wasn't simply just spying he actually sketched a picture of Harriett while waiting!!! There was so much wrong with that that I don't know where to start panning it.
We find out later that this clandestine sketch artist is a hustler of sorts, offering whatever services to whoever for whatever he can get. That includes selling the sketch and his tracking services to white slavers.
It didn't stop there; this hustling sketch artist can also find the infamous slave catcher/tracker Bigger Long. Bigger was a Robin Harris/Biggie Smalls/Rick Ross looking dude with the gravitas in 1850 to say to some armed white men that he would spend his money on as many "" as he can afford.
This character was so over the top and anachronistic he looked like he was pulled out of the 60's Black Power movement.
A movie about Harriet Tubman doesn't need to be overshadowed by such dramatizations. There was a lot of good in this movie. We saw Harriet's strength, her determination, her resolve, and her leadership abilities. If the movie focused more on that then it would have been better for it.
What needs to be known and what needs to be said is that Harriet was an amazing woman no matter what. She assisted dozens of slaves in escaping to freedom, that is enough to be considered a hero. So, whether she did so in an authoritarian way, in a sage way, or in a simple way, none of that enhances or detracts from what she did.
I say that because they made Harriet a prophet of sorts in the movie. Her ability to elude capture was aided by her clairvoyance as much as it was aided by benevolent people and her sheer force of will. I will plead ignorance to Harriet being somewhat prescient, but I have never heard that narrative. If that was a dramatization, then it was so unnecessary. This woman was incredible and achieved incredible feats regardless if she was precognitive or not.
This addition to the Harriet Tubman story didn't derail the movie. It was an annoyance but one that could be overlooked. What I couldn't easily overlook were two characters. One was Walter (Henry Hunter Hall) and the other was Bigger Long (Omar J. Dorsey). Let me explain.
Harriet was escaping through the woods with a group in tow. At the same time, Walter, a (presumably free) black man was in those woods spying on them. But he wasn't simply just spying he actually sketched a picture of Harriett while waiting!!! There was so much wrong with that that I don't know where to start panning it.
We find out later that this clandestine sketch artist is a hustler of sorts, offering whatever services to whoever for whatever he can get. That includes selling the sketch and his tracking services to white slavers.
It didn't stop there; this hustling sketch artist can also find the infamous slave catcher/tracker Bigger Long. Bigger was a Robin Harris/Biggie Smalls/Rick Ross looking dude with the gravitas in 1850 to say to some armed white men that he would spend his money on as many "" as he can afford.
This character was so over the top and anachronistic he looked like he was pulled out of the 60's Black Power movement.
A movie about Harriet Tubman doesn't need to be overshadowed by such dramatizations. There was a lot of good in this movie. We saw Harriet's strength, her determination, her resolve, and her leadership abilities. If the movie focused more on that then it would have been better for it.