Early American historical piece that shares the attributes — modesty, stolidness, benevolence — of its reluctant hero, a simple Carolina farmer and widower ("I am not one for big adventures") who conducts a fugitive slave girl on a clippity-clop, low-speed flight to freedom. Also like the hero (Jason Patric), it tends toward prettiness and sweetness (e.g., fixing the famished girl a pig-in-a-blanket for breakfast). It deviates from its model for a very ugly execution, though still prettily photographed. With Thandie Newton, Larry Drake, and narration by Maya Angelou; directed by John Duigan. (1995) — Duncan Shepherd
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