Review of Free in Deed (2017) by Mathilde — 23 Jun 2016

Beautiful and sad, exciting and elegiac in tone, this is the best movie ever made about the Civil War. It is a true story which closely follows historical events. If you have no interest in history, you will be bored. If you love studying history as I do, you will be fascinated. At its heart is a very tender love story between two people whose lives have been unforgiving but who find some measure of peace in each other in the midst of the maelstrom of war.

There are superb performances from Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mahershala Ali. The audience follows Ali in his journey from runaway slave to insurrectionist warrior to happy family man and political organizer. Keri Russell in a small role breaks your heart. They are all trying, in the words of another Mississippian William Faulkner "not merely to survive but to prevail". A film that is deeply affecting and causes the viewer to reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the South during the Civil War.