Harriet comes to the screen after years in development. Cynthia Erivo gives a vigorous, soulful performance as Harriet Tubman, the former slave who journeyed 100 miles to freedom to become a gun-toting, bible-quoting abolitionist. The detailing of the Underground Railroad — the network of clandestine roads and houses used to free dozens of enslaved blacks — is vividly brought to life by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou), directed from a screenplay she wrote with Gregory Allen Howard. Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn and Janelle Monáe co-star. Opening wide.

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