‘Free State of Jones’ review: ‘Oozes historical truth’

Free State of Jones review: An embodiment of a long-standing question that has thrived within American culture: What does freedom cost, and will it ever be enough?

Free State Of Jones review by Matthew Ceo, September 2016.

Matthew McConaughey as Newton Knight in Free State of Jones

Free State of Jones starts as many war-films do, in the harsh midst of the battlefield, where it certainly does not shy from emphasising its bloody cost. Marches of Confederate men are met with a flew of artillery fire, some gunned down in waves, there’s even a moment where a passing soldier resumes the duties of an nearby banner-man. There appears to be no deserters, no one turning their backs to the face of death, it seems director Gary Ross wanted to portray the sense of honour or valour that drove these men. It’s all very brutal before long as shots of severed limbs and concave faces fill the screen, this is of course, the only natural introduction to the life of a Confederate medic, Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey).

As the next approximately 150 minutes unfold, what we see is the uprising of a country, a rebel of rebels, dissidence en masse, and the careful tip-toeing of racial segregation. Above all else, and especially considering the nature of Knight’s relationship to Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Moses (Mahershala Ali), Free State of Jones is sensitive to the fact that the situations of subjugated white and enslaved black Mississippians were not identical, but in a society that is rigged against them both, the narrative strays from divisive plot devices, and together they form a united front.

Matthew McConaughey (center) and Mahershala Ali (center left) star in Free State of Jones.

It’s an impressive attempt at creating a sense of scale and impact, in part affirmed by a secondary narrative spanning eighty-five years, in which Knight’s descendent is on trial for unlawful interracial marriage and white superiority has reclaimed its seat at its table. It’s place in the film is questionable however, as whilst it is clear that this secondary narrative exists to infer that these prejudices still continued long after the implied ‘victories’ of the films primary narrative, its subtlety and tact may fly over some viewers heads, and by the film’s denouement, it feels in some ways like a cheap attempt at inciting an emotive response in the audience implying that there are some steps that could’ve been taken to really make the additional segments more sincere.

Ross should be praised for creating a film that practically oozes historical truth, even going to the extent of consulting the likes of Eric Foner of Columbia University, and Martha Hodes of New York University (experts in their fields of the Reconstruction and interracial sexuality in the 19th-century South, respectively) as so to provide historically accurate and significant context. The problem is, however, that Free State of Jones suffers from its own over-zealousness.

In an attempt to explore so many controversial issues of the time, Ross opens up a can of worms on issues that simply aren’t done justice as they’re covered here, and instead feel assimilated into the main narrative, when ultimately they would require – and deserve – much more of the screen-time (which is already an issue as the film runs for far too long) than allocated. It’s extremely difficult though to juggle these elements, those of the Confederacy, the Emancipation Act, Black Suffrage, and even the KKK. This isn’t to say that their inclusion was unnecessary – in fact, quite the opposite – simply that these were elements that were so large, they feel as if they warranted their own film altogether.

Mahershala Ali (left) as Moses and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel star in Free State of Jones.

With its visceral tone and realism when it comes to the cost of war included, Free State of Jones does a tremendous job of eliciting real emotional turmoil, particularly with the performances of McConaughey, Mbatha-Raw, and Ali. It stands tall with the hope of being akin to a film such as 12 Years A Slave, but falls short, and only just, due to some stretching of the narrative and the dulling complexity of its elements. Knight and Moses knew they were players in a capitalist system that sought to profiteer from them, (a resilient motif that is stringed throughout) and as such it resonates even now with our current – radically different – social climate, but it’s clear that Free State of Jones is an embodiment of a long-standing question that has thrived within American culture: What does freedom cost, and will it ever be enough?

Free State of Jones review by Matthew Ceo, September 2016.

Free State Of Jones is released in UK cinemas from Friday 30th September.