Portside

Reviewers have couched their discussion of The Good Lord Bird by pointing out its portrayal of history against the backdrop of ongoing protests about persistent racism.

The story is told through the eyes of a young, educated teenage slave (Joshua Caleb Johnson) who dresses like a girl at Brown’s request (for his own protection, supposedly) and is given the nickname “Onion.”

Ethan Hawke's ferocious portrayal of abolitionist John Brown is the roaring engine of Showtime's rousing James McBride adaptation.