Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Harriet’ on HBO, a Biopic that Serves as Cynthia Erivo’s Cinematic Emergence

Now streaming on HBO’s tangled suite of platforms is Harriet, a slick and sincere biopic about Harriet Tubman, directed and co-written by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou). The legendary American abolitionist is played by multi-talented star and potential EGOT candidate Cynthia Erivo, who celebrated an Oscar nomination for her performance (and previously earned a Tony and Grammy for her Broadway work). The primary question here is whether the film stands as something more than just Erivo’s breakthrough as a film star.

HARRIET: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Minty (Erivo) lies flat on her back in a field. What appears to be a flashback is actually a vision — a vision sent by God, she believes. She comes to in the arms of her husband John Tubman (Zackary Momoh); she had “one of them spells” again. It’s 1849, and Minty’s family is under possession of the Brodess family in Bucktown, Maryland. Brodess patriarch Edward (Mike Marunde) goes back on his word to free Minty’s mother (Vanessa Bell Calloway), and cruelly slaps back at Minty’s request for freedom now that she’s married to a free man. In a fit of despair, she prays for Edward’s death, and is overheard by his son Gideon (Joe Alwyn) — who blames her when Edward falls ill and passes soon after. Gideon puts her up for sale, but she flees and, cornered on a bridge by his men, flings herself into a rushing river.

Against the odds, Minty survives, and continues an arduous journey of 100 miles, north, past the Mason-Dixon line to Philadelphia. She’s free. She finds William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), writer and key member of the Underground Railroad, a secret organization of abolitionists devoted to aiding slaves to freedom. He prompts her to abandon her slave name, and she chooses a new one: Harriet. He documents her story, as he does with every freed slave he meets, and she tells him how a slaver once threw a metal weight at her, fracturing her skull, leaving a mark between her eyes, and ever since then, she has visions from God (“possible brain damage,” he writes in his notebook). William introduces her to Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae), who runs a boarding house; she nurtures Harriet and gets her paid work as a maid.

But Harriet is restless. More spells come; more visions come. Against William and Marie’s better advice, she ventures back to Maryland to bring her husband to Philadelphia but, upon learning he’s taken another wife, instead liberates her siblings and a few others, relying on instinct and prayer during their dark journey. William’s jaw hits the floor. He christens her a “conductor” in the Underground Railroad. Her origin story complete, Harriet becomes a heroine, leading dozens of slaves to freedom. But Gideon Brodess is still around, and still angry.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: So, as has been reported, there are a few Dirty Harriet moments here. But the movie has much more in common with Civil War-era period/biographical films such as Lincoln or Glory, and slavery stories such as 12 Years a Slave and Amistad.

Performance Worth Watching: Odom, Monae, Calloway, Clarke Peters and Vondie Curtis-Hall make up an extraordinary supporting cast, but if you’re watching anyone or anything besides Erivo, you’ve clearly lost the plot.

Memorable Dialogue: Take your pick of Erivo’s simple, direct lines: “I’mma be free or die,” or “Hole in my head just made God’s voice more clear.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: In many ways — maybe too many — Harriet is a square and conventional biopic: sweeping strings on the score, strong central performance, terrific set and costume design, an overstuffed narrative, a bit of historical shorthand. It’s a slick, watchable, quick-paced but flawed movie. The details of the Underground Railroad’s procedure are frustratingly smudgy. Only Peters (of The Wire and Da 5 Bloods), as Harriet’s father Ben Ross, leaves anything resembling a lasting impression among the supporting players. And the yes-sigh-it’s-a-montage montage of Harriet in action, hat cocked, flintlock pistol drawn, liberating the slaves — well, why isn’t it more rousing? Would it have clashed tonally with the film’s bevy of soberly drawn scenes?

But it’s difficult to be overly critical when its clearest intention is to pay homage to an American archetype of selflessness and courage, via Erivo’s exemplary work? Under Lemmons’ veteran guidance, Erivo assures Harriet is a complex figure whose compassion is never overridden by confidence. She scorches through a few mawkish scenes with what can only be described as fiery earnestness. I initially bristled at the characterization of Harriet as a person of destiny, of her achievements being the product of a guiding spiritual hand, something more than herself. But I warmed to the implication that a “broken” person (recall again what William writes in his ledger) instead can be extraordinary, and Erivo plays Harriet with understated, innocent charisma, her eyes wide to see humanity for what it is, good and bad, her brow creased with sorrow and a healthy amount of fear. Her sense of justice and truth is never driven by anger, because that’s what gnaws at the soul. It’s an account of unconventional righteousness, and it’s powerful.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Harriet is the story of an American icon, but it’s also a portrait of a star actress on the rise. It also sometimes feels like a vignette, and there are many more stories of Tubman’s life to be told; someone greenlight a Harriet TV miniseries pronto, please.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Where to stream Harriet