Review of Free State of Jones (2016) by Shae S — 11 Jul 2016

(4 out of 5 stars).

I did NOT anticipate I'd be saying this, but Free State of Jones is two or three times the movie I'd thought it would be. It comes very near to being an excellent movie, brushing up against it, even.

The film was marketed as if it were simply the story of some Confederate deserters, led by Matthew McConaughey's Newton Knight, who established a "free state" and resisted the graycoats. And that is the movie, at least for around half its running time.

After that, the film takes us through the 10 years or so after the war, where good, simple people strained mightily under a sociopolitical system which was infuriatingly slow to evolve, all in the aim of leading good, simple lives where what you earn is yours and "every man is a man." Being the 1870's American South, however, foul injustices are constantly visited on supposedly free men and women, ranging from forced apprenticeship of freedmen to horrific lynchings. It is a quietly powerful film, which neither fetishes nor shrinks from awful violence, be it physical, political, social, or all three at once.

This is a film of much greater scope than the trailers and TV spots would have you believe. I contend that it's a much better film than critics would apparently have you believe. While there are some unfortunately thin characterizations when it comes to the film's various villains, and a few moments don't ring quite as true as they ought to, the things that do work are shocking in their power. Instead of the Hollywoodized, heightened drama I was certain would drag "Jones" down, Gary Ross directs more than one key event to be as anticlimactic and unadorned as mundane reality actually is. This makes the human drama so much more penetrating and effective than it might have been otherwise.

Nearly all the leads give nuanced, rock solid performances. McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel, and Mahershala Ali as Moses were especially vivid. The cinematography is mostly utilitarian and unobtrusive, and yet it manages to be subtly compelling. For the most part, it's a very well written movie, though the first flash forward to a mid-20th century Alabama courtroom was a bit jarring. That subplot (which briefly illustrates the fate of one of Knight's descendants accused of miscegenation) doesn't quite gel with the rest of the film, but is nevertheless passable, I suppose.

In spite of some minor shortcomings, this is a richly spiritual, thoughtful, compassionate film. Do yourself a favor and see it.