[ti:First Film About Harriet Tubman Opens in US Theaters] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.24]Harriet Tubman is considered one of the most heroic people in American history. [00:09.60]Born Araminta Ross, or Minty, Tubman was an abolitionist [00:15.54]and political activist, and fought in the American Civil War. [00:22.24]But across America, Tubman is best known for rescuing [00:27.44]more than 70 enslaved people through a system called the Underground Railroad. [00:35.24]And now, a new film tells her story. [00:39.66]Harriet is the first full-length film about Tubman's life. [00:45.40]It opened last week in theaters across the United States. [00:51.96]For many people who know only children's book stories about Tubman, [00:57.36]Harriet offers a more detailed story of the woman known in her day as the Moses of her people. [01:07.44]Moses was a biblical leader who led his fellow Jews out of slavery. [01:15.04]The film Harriet centers on Tubman's escape from slavery in Maryland [01:20.62]in 1849 and the rescues that led so many enslaved people to freedom. [01:29.68]Cynthia Erivo plays Tubman. [01:33.04]She said stories that present Tubman as an older woman do not give a complete picture. [01:42.28]"It is important to know this was a really young woman [01:46.40]who took a lot of risk in what she was doing," Erivo said. [01:51.80]Harriet director Kasi Lemmons said she was moved to make the film [01:57.61]after the recent discovery of a photo of Tubman. [02:02.17]"There was this very small, young woman [02:05.63]who managed to do incredible things," said Lemmons. [02:09.75]The picture was believed to be taken in the 1860s [02:14.59]when Tubman would have been in her early forties. [02:19.12]Earlier this year, that picture was on show at the Smithsonian National Museum [02:25.85]of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. [02:31.96]Today, many Americans still only have basic knowledge of Tubman's life. [02:39.56]Some do not know, for example, that she served [02:43.48]in the Union Army as a spy during the American Civil War. [02:49.96]In 1863, she led 150 black soldiers on a gunboat raid in the state of South Carolina. [03:01.04]The raid freed more than 700 enslaved people. [03:07.16]Tubman also became a leader in the fight to establish voting rights for women. [03:15.00]She was in her early 90s when she died in 1913. [03:21.12]Efforts to make a full-length movie about Tubman [03:24.93]have been discussed for several years. [03:28.84]But Lemmons said her project came to life when she found Erivo. [03:35.56]But Erivo is British, not American, [03:39.04]and some people are displeased by Lemmons' choice as a result. [03:45.88]Erivo, however, believes there are common experiences [03:50.68]between black people of both countries. [03:55.28]Director Kasi Lemmons says Tubman herself [03:59.06]was the spiritual guide of the movie's production. [04:03.56]"I really thought about this as...[bringing] Harriet to life [04:08.16]so that young girls could see this young woman heroine, [04:12.15]and that the world could see her as this fierce, strong, [04:17.22]feminine presence that she was," Lemmons said. [04:22.44]Harriet earned $12 million from movie goers last weekend. [04:27.80]The website Metacritic reports the film received generally favorable criticism. [04:35.16]I'm Alice Bryant. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM