Free State Of Jones, 2016.
Directed by Gary Ross.
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Christopher Berry, Bill Tangradi and Keri Russell.
SYNOPSIS:
A disillusioned Confederate army deserter returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters, runaway slaves, and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government.
Free State of Jones is told with the sort of long-winded efficiency more commonly found in waffling A-Level essays. Director Gary Ross, fresh off the back of The Hunger Games, seems lackadaisical in his attempts at telling a story which at once feels vital, but is told in such a way, it feels swamped in the righteousness of white-guilt.
Ross, from the opening sequence-a scan of a battlefield where pigs eat human remains and close ups of heads blown wide apart-seems lost in the plotting. Moments of gore don’t pepper the film; instead they’re forced with little care into a five-minute sequence that only ever jars.
We are then introduced to Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), a Southern Farmer-come-Confederate army soldier, who disillusioned by violence and the corruption of tax collectors, deserts his fellow compatriots, finding himself in the care of Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a “house negro” who previously helped nurse his infant son.
She brings him to a swamp, where runaway slaves occupy, one of which, Moses (Mahershala Ali) is bound to a huge, spiked neck collar. Newton and his new found gang are fast known as vigilantes, fighting back against rampant racism and corruption, and are soon joined by more angered working-class Southerners and disillusioned soldiers. With their newfound power, they create “The State of Jones,” a haven of Marxist ideals, thus angering the mighty capitalists of the South.
Intermittently thrown in, with the deft touch of a man with broken hands attempting to pick up a china vase, are flash-forwards 85 years to a court case involving Newton’s descendant being prosecuted for his lineage. This in a film already bloated and over-wrought.
Where too much plot is an issue, the over-bearing issue of the white man being the hero of a film about slavery is crippling. A horribly misjudged sequence in which Newton, mid motivational speech declares, “we’re all somebody’s nigger” defines the picture. There’s a strange looming conservatism that wholly undermines Ross’ vain attempts at portraying a picture of equality. It’s less a story of slavery, more of ugly white-guilt, reinforcing the archaic idea of the white-man as the hero.
Characters are developed with no further dimension, performances, even from those usually so reliable, are disconnected from one another, resulting in attempts at creating relationships that just don’t work. Its two female roles, lead by Mbatha-Raw and the ever reliable Keri Russell, are undefined, with Ross’ only attempt at conflict being the courtroom subplot which acts more as a lazy McGuffin.
At 140 minutes, the film dawdles awkwardly; long-winding conversations exist only as expositional devices and when paired with photographs and documents of the time, the film begins to feel like a dull tool for education.
Ross attempts valiantly to tell a story that boils the blood, but instead cares so desperately for that of white-guilt that it comes off as something far more self-righteous. Free State of Jones is more impeccably researched essay than film.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Thomas Harris
Originally published September 30, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
