Critic Reviews

Both the novel and series transcend blunt allegory with a haunting magical realism that openly embraces the horrors of slavery in America. Whitehead’s prose is engaging, but Jenkins’ visuals are searing. ... Each installment feels complete and satisfying, which is good because the story’s intensity doesn’t lend itself to binge watching.

By showing the joy and laughter, the love and determination, mixed with the horrors, Jenkins turns historical slaves away from being suffering props for white consumption, and gives them dignity. In Thuso Mbedu’s resolute, sincere turn as Cora, she fills us with an equally unfathomable grace.

The series succeeds in anchoring its narrative to the full context of racism throughout centuries. It compels us to reflect both on what happened and where those events have led us – how they continue to shape us and the world we live in.

The filmmaker brings Whitehead’s alternate history — anchored by a literal underground railroad that clandestinely transports runaway slaves — to vivid and visually stunning life.

Jenkins’ trademark patience behind the camera builds romance and passion with powerful precision, establishing unique individual identities while fleshing out each subject, no matter how many scenes they get. ... Before the final needle drop, it’s impossible not to feel closer to this world and everyone in it.

Transfixing. ... Yes, you will see atrocities. But you will also see humanity and resistance and love. You will see a stirring, full-feeling, technically and artistically and morally potent work, a visual tour de force worthy of Whitehead’s imaginative one.

This is momentous, rhapsodic film-making that pushes television to places it has never been before. Get on board.

Breathtaking. ... Jenkins uses the medium of serialized television to open up its layers, transcending the specifics of place and period. With roughly two minutes of screen time for every page of text, he’s able to reproduce the book’s most resonant monologues but also insert long, wordless, lyrical passages that communicate characters’ inner lives more elegantly and completely than the voiceover narration so many literary adaptations lean on.

The Underground Railroad made me feel things about my own life and personal pain very deeply, while never letting me forget that while I could relate to aspects of this story, it is not my own. ... The show’s achievement is making every episode feel so full as to allow you to watch an individual installment, walk away for a while feeling like you’ve got a complete story, then return when you’re ready for another story featuring some of the same characters.

The story moves at the director’s pace, and much of this 10-part Amazon series is deliriously, cinematically beautiful despite the context. ... He conjures visual poetry where there should be none, with all the consequent exhilaration that artistic aspiration delivers.