Free State Of Jones

Parental Rating: R

Contains: Language    Violence    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens June 24, 2016

Runs 139 minutes

Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) is a disallusioned Confederate soldier. He feels he is fighting for the rich plantation owners, who make money off of the cotton that their slaves pick. Since he is not a slaveholder or a cotton farmer, he feels that the fight is not really his. He deserts and heads into the swamp to live with other deserters and escaped slaves. Eventually, they band together and start a rebellion that leads Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy and form the "Free State of Jones". This rebellion lasts long into Reconstruction, even producing one of the first integrated counties in the South. 

This movie is based on a little-known true story. Newton Knight goes on to marry a former slave Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and produce an heir. He even deeds his land to her and she becomes one of the first black woman landholders in the South. The Husband and I liked it. Overall, it was a little long and a little cut up. It covers a lot of years, well into the 1870's. It also jumps ahead 80 years to a trial involving one of Newton Knight's descendants. I thought that part of the film was unnecessary and took away from the overall tone of the rest of the film. But, still it was an interesting look at a little-known Civil War story of a  regular man who led an uprising. Go see it.

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