It is stunning to me that historical events of one hundred and fifty years ago can still resonate as contemporary drama, but such is the case with Free State of Jones.  The struggle of anti-slavery Southern folk to resist the all-consuming Confederate army and survive is the focus, yet that struggle encompasses much more than the slavery issue.  Freedom, gun rights, reconstruction, black-white relations and basic human dignity are all explored one way or another as the film tries to define what it is to be American.  And while it is a period piece, an historical document of the Civil War and Reconstruction, it is designed to raise its issues as a mirror for our own age.

Gary Ross’ film is a powerful work, yet it also has a tendency for overreach.  Paralleling its Civil War story of the rebellion led by Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) is a 1950s-era court case in which one of his descendants is prohibited from marriage because of his racial heritage.  The point is well taken — that despite Knight’s efforts not much had changed in Mississippi over a century — but these court case scenes are distracting, taking the audience right out of the historical story.  I think this section of the story would have been better served to have been presented as a coda after the film instead of being woven into its fabric.

What works is how a disillusioned Confederate soldier sees that his world is destroyed by war, to the point that even running away from it is futile.  He is forced to defend himself, and help others while doing so, against a Southern government determined to strip everything away from the poor to continue the fight against the North.  Knight loves the South; he refuses to leave his home land; yet he finally decides to fight for the other side, realizing that freedom can only be won if slavery and oppression is defeated.  The irony that follows is that after the war, things remain pretty much the same and atrocities continue.  The battle continues.

The film itself is often powerful and moving, though it tends to meander, especially in the post-war scenes.  Knight’s domestic situation is as distracting as it is compelling.  It cannot fully overcome the “white savior” complex that so many films follow, although the history of which I am aware supports Newton Knight’s leadership of this rebellion (which was only one of several during the Civil War).  To be sure, this is not a great film, but it is certainly worth seeing for its glimpse into cloudy history, its fine performances and its connections to the racial struggle that is still taking place today.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  12 July 2016.