Review of Free State of Jones (2016) by Jonathan B — 30 Nov 2017

Free State of Jones tells a similar story to the Daniel Craig World War 2 movie Defiance, telling as it does how a group of guerrilla fighters hide out from the enemy army in an inaccessible forest. Here though we are dealing with events during and following the American Civil War where, lead by the charismatic Newt Knight a group of escaped slaves, Confederate Army deserters and poor farmers stand their ground against the inhumanity, cruelty and corruption of the southern forces.

Based on true events, Knight, played with conviction by Matthew McConaughey is portrayed as a man who was ahead of his time in his political and social attitudes and certainly had the ability to unite and inspire people from diverse backgrounds.

I really enjoyed this movie and was especially interested in the events following the end of the war where Knight and the extraordinary community he helped create battle the appalling racism and bigotry that was rife in the deep south at the time.

There are however, elements that jarred for me. The action is periodically intercut with a courtroom scene from the 1950s where a descendant of knight is standing trial for falling foul of the Mississippi race laws.

In itself, this is an interesting device, showing how the events of the war rippled on for decades but the scenes are so fleeting and brief that there is little or no time to develop a sense of empathy with the people involved.

I think I must be one of the few people who have watched this movie that actually wished it had been longer as an extra 10-15 minutes to expand on this plot line would have been far more satisfying. Overall however, I found this an interesting, moving and worthwhile movie about an event in history that I had no prior knowledge of.