The heroic life of Harriet Tubman

Harriet is a 2019 biopic of the heroic life of Harriet Tubman, her journey to freedom and helping others to freedom. This film is directed by Kasi Lemmons and produced by Debra Martin Chase, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, and Gregory Allen Howard. Harriet Tubman is played by Cynthia Erivo, her husband John Tubman is played by Zachary Momoh. Some other familiar faces in this movie are Janelle Monae as Marie Buchanon and Nick Basta as Foxx.

At the beginning of the film, it shows Minty asking for her promised freedom and getting cruelly denied by Edward Brodess. Her master’s plan is to sell her after her attempt to be peacefully freed. The next night she plans to leave with her husband, John Tubman, but he gets caught by Gideon Brodess. Minty gathers some food from her father and money from the reverend and continues her journey alone. She runs until she can’t anymore and sleeps in the forest until morning, where she is awoken by dogs sent out by the men who are looking for her. She runs until she’s cornered and is forced to surrender or jump in a river. Altogether, she travels 100 miles to Philadelphia and finally finds a man to help her get back on her feet. She goes on to rename herself after her mother Harriet and her last name for her husband John Tubman.

This is a very powerful film filled with many powerful quotes some of my favorite includes: “I would give every last drop of blood in my veins to free them.” – Harriet Tubman “Dont tell me what I can’t do. God was watching, but my feet were my own.” – Harriet Tubman “We want our babies born free like they meant to be.” – Minty
I consider this movie a cinematic masterpiece. It showed the horrible truth of what Harriet went through to be free and help others to freedom and what it was like during the 1840s for people of color. The movie can be checked out through the Solano Public Library system or you can stream it through Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and other sources. It runs two hours and six minutes.