FREE STATE OF JONES
Directed: Gary Ross
Screenplay: Leonard Hartman and Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey; Gugu Mbatha-raw; Mahershala Ali; and Keri Russell
The Free State Of Jones follows a Confederate Soldier Newton Knight who leaves the war in disgust. After returning home he fights for his right not to fight, the rights of home/property owners to protect their land and property from the government; and also black individuals right to be free.
I will start with the highlights...the acting:
Matthew McConaughey as Newton Knight is really good. This may sound odd but his voice tone and I guess movements in this film makes him very believable. He is a leader. An almost a reluctant leader that influences people to believe and also to follow. Like he did in Mud and Dallas Buyers Club he just becomes the character.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel, a house slave who helps the rebels in the swamps. She is so talented. I have been saying this since I watched her in Belle (See it!!). She was underused in Concussion but she still was great. Here, again, fantastic, she says so much with a look and a smile. I will go as far to say maybe top 5 actresses working today.
Keri Russell as Serena is barely in the film but when she is she shines.
The best for last!!Mahershala Ali gives an Oscar worthy performance as Moses. He steals this movie from McConaughey. He is the leader behind the leader. He pulls the strings and you never have any doubt about what he is capable of. He is smart; strong; and a ball of emotions. I think most people know him from the Hunger Games series, that was a small part, here he just shines in a much bigger part.
Now we come to a problem. The screenplay. Do not get me wrong, it is not a bad movie. In fact it is a pretty good film. I learned a lot. The film starts strong, the first hour is fantastic. Then as the film move on it becomes a shell of a story. We do not dig into characters. We do not dig into ramifications or how far reaching the actions are felt. It loses focus with way to many angles and stories, The script needed tightening. It was 140 minutes and it felt rushed at the end, so you can see there is a problem. They also made a strange decision to show a court case in the future throughout the film to make it relate to the story that it is telling. That decision was unnecessary, it took us away from the story and that time could have been used for development. In fact there was a part of me that thought this would have been better as something like a 5 week miniseries on TV. It is a fascinating story that I never knew about, and with more time it could dig deeper into all the story lines. As odd as this sounds the movie ends with a thud. It seemed rushed and cut short, which is a shame.
3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Free State Of Jones. Go see it. Just an interesting story with great performances. It lacks depth. Maybe see the film then buy the book The State Of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded From The Confederacy to expand on the film.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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