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Review: The Underground Railroad : Pop Culture Happy Hour The new Amazon series The Underground Railroad is the latest project from Barry Jenkins, who directed Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk. It's the story of Cora, a runaway slave in the antebellum South, who escapes a vicious Georgia plantation and sets off on a journey toward freedom aboard the mysterious and entirely literal underground railroad. It's many contradictory things at once: lyrical yet brutal, luminous yet horrifying.

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Underground Railroad' Is A Brutal Yet Beautiful Ride

'The Underground Railroad' Is A Brutal Yet Beautiful Ride

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Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad looks unflinchingly at the brutality of life as a slave through the eyes of Cora, played by Thuso Mbedu. Amazon Studios hide caption

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Amazon Studios

Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad looks unflinchingly at the brutality of life as a slave through the eyes of Cora, played by Thuso Mbedu.

Amazon Studios

The new Amazon series The Underground Railroad is the latest project from Barry Jenkins, who directed Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk. It's the story of Cora, a runaway slave in the antebellum South, who escapes a vicious Georgia plantation and sets off on a journey toward freedom aboard the mysterious and entirely literal underground railroad. It's many contradictory things at once: lyrical yet brutal, luminous yet horrifying.

The audio was produced by Mallory Yu and edited by Jessica Reedy.