Over the last few years, Hollywood has been drawn, time and again, back to the historical lens of the era of the Civil War, perhaps as a way to unlock the origins of modern American racism. Whether it be a hand-wringing indictment like 12 Years a Slave, a broad revenge fantasy like Django Unchained, a universal appeal for civil rights like Lincoln, or a re-visitation of Roots, the American film industry has been especially keen to dissect this country’s most shameful chapter with an inordinate amount of gusto. Perhaps this recent explosion of shame and exposure and revenge is Hollywood’s way to atone for the enduring cultural cinematic legacy of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, a film that naïvely lionized the Ku Klux Klan and reportedly re-ignited the movement in the American South. Heck, later this year, we will be treated to a new movie called Birth of a Nation, a film whose very title will assuredly raise hackles and trigger certain audience members.
In a cinematic climate of racial anger and passionate historical exposure, Gary Ross’ Free State of Jones may play as perhaps a bit too academic for some audiences. Meticulously researched, and presented with the carefully structured intellectual glee of a particularly thorough college professor, Free State of Jones tells the true story of Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), a deserter in Civil War Mississippi who led a successful, and multi-racial, Unionist uprising against the Confederate army. Knight managed to, with an accumulated army of ex-slaves and other Southern deserters, fend off Confederate forces, keeping them effectively out of his own ersatz state. It’s like a real-life Civil War version of Asterix the Gaul (to offer an obscure reference to a French comic book about village of Gauls who held out against Roman invaders). Along the way, we meet Knight’s closest compatriot, a slave named Moses (Mahershala Ali), his old wife (Keri Russell) and his new wife (the ever-excellent Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
STX Entertainment
Also: Gary Ross Tries to Set the Record Straight in ‘Free State of Jones’ (Interview)
Free State of Jones marches casually and inevitably forward through its own history, leading audiences on a serious-faced museum tour through the details of Knight’s life. It has the careful, completist momentum of a history textbook, rarely stopping for distracting humanity. In terms of cinematic narrative, one may consider this to be dry – and it is, to a noticeable degree – but for a largely unknown, not to mention incredibly fascinating chapter in American history, this approach is actually appreciated. Director Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) discovered this story while doing some reading on the Southern reformation, and clearly wanted to, with no small amount of excitement, share it with the world, unfettered by any sort of modern re-contextualization. The story itself is interesting enough, one may find, to stand on its own.
Free State of Jones also, in what amounts to a brilliantly jarring cinematic choice, features several flash-forwards to a period 80 years after Knight’s death, when a descendant of his is still living down his legally dubious legacy in a court of law. The ripples caused by violent racial revolution, then, will be felt in ways we cannot predict, and racial hatred creates an ineffably strong cultural legacy that takes a century to live down.
STX Entertainment
The thrills of Free State of Jones are, then, largely intellectual. This is a film to educate and to discuss, and may not have the emotional oomph provided by something more violent and immediate than, say, the overrated 12 Years a Slave. Ross puts his whole faith in the material. Since the material is so interesting and strong, though, one can see this is a wise approach, and audiences ready for a lecture and a history lesson may find themselves strangely exhilarated. Those looking for something more conventionally dramatic may be disappointed.
This is now the second time in recent memory that McConaughey has starred in a showy, dramatic, Oscar-bait film wherein he plays a real-life majority white man who bravely stands up for a minority’s plight. He is, it seems, on a “-splaining” kick. First he straight-splained in Dallas Buyers Club, and now he white-splains in Free State of Jones. Hollywood’s tendency to focus on white males is, this critic must lamentably observe, still a trend. The -splaining is not as insidious or as distracting as it was in Dallas Buyers Club – Jones‘ historical persnickitiness counteracts any bad flavors – but one can be forgiven for sitting uncomfortably.
Ultimately, though, Free State of Jones is a fun history lesson and a fascinating tale, and there is much that can be discussed following a viewing. Ross has kept the conversation open, and offers a new angle on any discussion of Civil War movies. This is a conversation worth having.
Top Image: STX Entertainment
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
