Loosely based on a true story, The Free State of Jones tells the story of Newt Knight, who deserts from the confederate army during the American Civil War. On the run, he teams up with a mixture of runaway slaves, other deserters, and local farmers to fight against the confederate army in Mississippi.
Matthew McConaughey as Newt gives a towering performance. By all accounts he is portrayed as a much more likeable and forward thinking person in the film than he was in real life, feeling too much of a modern character, but that doesn’t diminish from the power of the acting. Also, Thomas Francis Murphy as the Oleaginous Elias Hood is a convincing villain.
The director and write Gary Ross manages to condense a story that covers a large period of the war skilfully enough. The use of old photos and captions to break up passages of the film works really well. Less successful though, are the handful of scenes flashing forward to the 1950s, where a descendant of Newt’s is on trial because of an illegal interracial marriage in Mississippi.
I can see why Ross wanted to show how attitudes to race didn’t change much in that part of the country between those times, but the later story could well have been a film in itself. There is not enough time given over to it to become invested in those characters. A more sweeping tale across the two periods might have worked better as a TV mini series, with the extra running time that allows.
However, I enjoyed the bulk of the film, with some sparingly used but impressive action scenes and some deeply emotional ones too. The fate of the extremely likeable Moses (the impressive Mahershala Ali) will bring a lump to many a throat.
So, a mixed bag but more of a success than a failure.
Rating: 7 out of 10