Unsatisfied with the corruption of the Confederate government that held an abuse and exploit its people, a young courageous army soldier, Newton Knight, who after surviving from the violent civil war, rebels on the state, by composing an army of the poor, after his return to his homeland in Mississippi.
Free State of Jones is a worthy experience, both instructive and provocative -- a lot of what goes on here is starting to look too familiar for comfort.
It certainly looks and sounds right, and probably smells right too -- these gunky Mississippi battles and unwashed soldiers feel authentic. The problem, as with McConaughey's performance, is that you always do feel it.
While all the performances are solid, there's too much of a distance from the setting of the story to truly create an immersive experience between the audience and the film.
It's a plodding and dry story that feels like something only a History Channel-addicted dad could love. And it's surprising how bad it is given the players.
Ross bit off more than he can chew... the story lolls and wallows in wartime violence and the rebellion, then rushes through the horrors and trauma of Reconstruction.
As inherently astonishing and powerful as this little-known episode is, it has not been well-served by Ross' lumpy, ill-conceived script, which ends up wasting Matthew McConaughey's terrific lead performance and other strong acting contributions.
A better film would have muddled the clean white-savior narrative with an actual exploration of what the racial politics of a mixed-race insurgency in the South might have been like.
