Free State of Jones

I have no doubts that writer-director Gary Ross (The Hunger Games) made Free State of Jones with the most noblest of intentions.  He's also given us some lovely images to look at as he tells the story of Newt Knight, a real life historical figure who existed in 19th Century American History during the Civil War.  It's the telling of the story that made me squirm in my seat.  This is a turgid, bone-dry, and completely simplified overview of the story that's about as interesting as those videos they used to play in high school history class.  You know, the ones where you put your head down on your desk, and still tried to pretend that you were paying attention.

Matthew McConaughey, that most enthusiastic of actors, does his best to inject some life into Ross' pallid storytelling, but fights a losing battle.  I wonder if any actor could have brought any life to this overly long, talky and underwritten historical epic.  In the history books, Newt Knight was a farmer in Jones County, Mississippi, who led fellow deserters of the Confederate Army during the Civil War in a rebellion against their own army.  They joined up with free black slaves, and attacked any Confederate soldiers who may have wandered near the swamp where they made their hideout.  Surely there is more to the story than that, but that is the most that Ross' telling of the story informs us.  How did the white soldiers feel about fighting alongside the black slaves?  Again, we learn nothing.  In this movie, Knight's group is basically seen as one big happy family, and aside from a few scenes where someone questions his orders, nobody really raises any questions or concerns.

And surely it must have been hard for the men to survive out there in the swamp.  How did they get food, and in this movie's case, how did they keep their clothes and hair so clean?  Again, very little detail is given, and we don't really get to see them suffer any personal hardships.  Instead, we get long, dry historical speeches about the importance of what Knight was doing, and of course a few instances of cruelty to slaves.  It's always hard to watch this particular moment in American history blown up on the big screen, but compared to something like 12 Years a Slave, Free State of Jones definitely lacks power in its images.  It actually keeps the black characters in the background for a good part of the movie.  This includes a slave named Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), whom Newt fell in love with and eventually married.  Their relationship is bare bones to the point of non-existence.  Not once do we get to get to see how they truly feel about each other, and the most we do get to see is that he helped her learn how to read. 

Speaking of Rachel, her character is involved in one of the key things that bothered me about this movie.  At one point late in the film, we see Newt living with two women - Rachel, and his first wife, Serena (Keri Russell), as well as the boy he had with Serena in the past.  Once again, the movie completely skips over this completely fascinating potential plot point, and simply gives us the bare minimum.  How does Serena feel about Rachel?  How does Rachel feel about Serena?  Heck, what does the kid think about all of this?  Again, no answer is given.  We mostly get a scene where the two women are sitting on the front porch, talking pleasantly with each other, and that's it.  There is no relationship or tension between these two women.  They have nothing to say about each other, or about the situation they find themselves in.  Why bother to bring up this delicate situation if you're not even going to bother to give it any depth?

In an equally clumsy move, the movie will occasionally flash forward to 1948, where the great grandson of Newt and Rachel is being put on trial where he was found to be black because of his family background, even though he was white.  The man, Davis Knight, was eventually found to be "guilty" of being black, though the ruling was eventually overturned.  Obviously, Ross is trying to show us how little the South's opinions had changed since the days of Newt's time, but it is awkwardly handled.  There is often no lead in to these more modern day scenes, and they interrupt what little flow the movie does have.  This is information that could have been saved for some title cards at the end of the film, instead of interrupting the core story every 20 minutes or so.  It's an unnecessary side plot that adds nothing to the film's emotional power, like it's obviously intended to do.

Because of these poor and sometimes odd decisions, Free State of Jones never comes to life.  We can admire what the filmmakers are trying to say, but we simply are not involved, due to the fragmented and basic way that Ross has chosen to tell the story.  All we end up getting is a history lesson with nothing behind it that tells us why we should be interested in the first place.

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