Living under slavery on a Maryland plantation in the 1840s, Araminta Ross (Cynthia Erivo) goes by the name Minty. About half the state’s Black residents are free and half enslaved. Minty knows the risk, but when opportunity comes, she sets out alone to walk 100 miles north to Philadelphia. Along the way, Minty gains help from the loose collection of new friends and abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad.
Once in Philadelphia, she meets Marie (Janelle Monáe), a sophisticated, free-born woman who helps her to claim her place and power in the new society with a new name: Harriet Tubman. Against all advice, Tubman returns south to lead her loved ones to freedom. When Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, no place in the US is safe. Now Tubman must lead her charges 500 miles north to a place where slavery was recently outlawed: Canada.
Cynthia Erivo was a discovery for many in Steve McQueen’s Widows. Here she proves herself an exemplary leading woman, riveting in every scene, and giving her portrayal the scale and depth appropriate to such a legendary American leader.
- Price: From £8.50
- Duration: 140 mins
- Origin: USA
- Director: Kasi Lemmons
- Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe
- Year of Release: 2019
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