Review: Free State of Jones
Free State of Jones spotlights the little-known tale of Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), a Mississippi farmer who led a rebellion against the Confederacy with a significant assist from a group of runaway slaves. Director and screenwriter Gary Ross covers a great deal of narrative ground, including the aftermath of the emancipation during which time an apprenticeship system essentially replaced slavery, the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, and a fast-forward some 85 years later when one of his great-grandsons, though only 1/8th black, is standing trial for his illegal marriage to a white woman. Unfortunately, most if not all of the the stories are leeched of their fascination. Where Free State of Jones should be enlightening, rousing and affecting, it is instead disengaging, ineffectual and deathly dull.
The film begins on the battlefield, freshly littered with the bodies of Confederate troops, including the neighbour's son Newton has sworn to protect. Anti-secessionist and anti-slavery, he's disgusted to hear of the new law that exempts the oldest sons in Confederate households from fighting in the war if the family owns at least 20 slaves. His outrage is further ignited when, upon his return home, he witnesses Confederate soldiers looting local farms. An ensuing stand-off between Newton and the solders results in Newton deserting the army and hiding out in the Mississippi bayou. There he bonds with several renegade slaves including Moses (Mahershala Ali), who bears a metal guard with spears pointing upward, and Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who will soon become Newton's common-law wife. Tired of fighting so the rich can keep their cotton, Newton convinces them and the hundreds that will soon join this burgeoning community that they take up arms and strike back at their oppressors.
There's no denying Ross' determination to present what is historically known of Newton and the events that took place in Jones County, Mississippi between 1862 and 1876, but a good drama is not powered by historical accuracy alone. Free State of Jones is heavy on banter - quotidian, expository, ideological - but it is sorely lacking in simple human drama. The friendship between Newton and Moses is given short shrift as are the relationship between Newton and Rachel and the dynamics between Newton, Rachel and his wife Serena (Keri Russell), who comes to live with them after her farm is burned down. Just imagine that scenario: a wife having to swallow her pride and ask her husband and his common-law black wife for shelter. Yet Ross does next to nothing with it - next time the ladies are shown, Serena and Rachel are sitting and laughing on the porch as Serena bounces Rachel's baby on her lap. The talented Mbatha-Raw and Russell are both sorely wasted - their characters are so inconsequential it's a wonder why Ross chose to include them at all. (Newton would go on to have five children with Rachel and nine with Serena - what a movie that would have made!)
Even the community created by Newton feels blurry in its focus and improbably utopic. Blacks and whites co-exist with nary an unkind word or wary gaze. There is one instance of racial tension when one of the white men calls Moses the N-word, but it's designed less to exhibit how the racial divide can be tentatively bridged by a greater commonality and more for Newton to exert his leadership and peacemaking skills. McConaughey does his valiant best to shade Newton, but Ross's insistence on presenting Newton as a heroic freedom fighter rather than a multi-dimensional, complex man whose insurrection could be seen as criminal and reckless undermines the actor, the character, and the film.
Free State of Jones
Directed by: Gary Ross
Written by: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell, Christopher Berry, Sean Bridgers, Jacob Lofland, Jessica Collins
