LOS ANGELES (AP) â When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whiteheadâs Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: Impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. And he questioned the ethics of such a production: Do people really need to be reminded about the horrors of slavery?
Ultimately, Jenkins worked through the doubts. The result is âThe Underground Railroad,â an unflinching portrayal of Cora, an enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation and its horrors only to be pursued by an unrelenting bounty hunter. Along the way she must confront the anger she feels for her mother, who left her at the plantation when she was 10.
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) â When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whiteheadâs Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: Impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. And he questioned the ethics of such a production: Do people really need to be reminded about the horrors of slavery?
Ultimately, Jenkins worked through the doubts. The result is âThe Underground Railroad,â an unflinching portrayal of Cora, an enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation and its horrors only to be pursued by an unrelenting bounty hunter. Along the way she must confront the anger she feels for her mother, who left her at the plantation when she was 10.
2021/05/12 21:03 FILE - Filmmaker Barry Jenkins poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 4, 2019. Jenkins la. FILE - Filmmaker Barry Jenkins poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 4, 2019. Jenkins latest project, the 10-hour limited series “The Underground Railroad,” premieres Thursday on Amazon. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) FILE - Barry Jenkins arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 5, 2020. Jenkins latest project, the 10-hour li. FILE - Barry Jenkins arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 5, 2020. Jenkins latest project, the 10-hour limited series “The Underground Railroad,” premieres Thursday on Amazon. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Barry Jenkins's adaptation of "The Underground Railroad," Colson Whitehead's award-winning novel, confronts slavery and celebrates the resilience of the people who were oppressed by it.
The inhumanity of slavery stains every frame of The Underground Railroad on Amazon Prime Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
“The Underground Railroad,” Barry Jenkins’ realization of Colson Whitehead’s novel, a limited series that is, well, great.
But not perfect. Even a filmmaker as gifted as Jenkins falls prey to the temptations of the lack of limits prestige cable offers. The 10-episode series, which streams on Amazon Prime Video beginning May 14, easily could have been trimmed. But the narrative gets away from Jenkins a little, especially in the middle when the focus shifts away from the enslaved woman trying to escape to the man trying to catch her. It s needed to tell the story, but goes too far down that path.