Synopsis
In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history.
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Cast
- Matthew McConaugheyNewton Knight
- Gugu Mbatha-RawRachel
- Mahershala AliMoses Washington
- Keri RussellSerena Knight
- Jacob LoflandDaniel
- Sean BridgersSumrall
- Brad CarterLieutenant Barbour
- Jane McNeillMiss Ellie
- Gary GrubbsProsecuting Attorney
- Christopher BerryJasper
Recommendations
- 75
Charlotte Observer
The movie remains quiet and deliberate, a synonym for “boring” in some minds (though not mine). In the end, it becomes an allegory for the times in which we live. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
Free State of Jones is an extraordinarily ambitious film, and for that reason, it’s not perfect. - 55
TheWrap
That you may learn a good deal about an unusually driven man, but never quite feel emotionally connected to him, means Ross has hit a workmanlike middle, crafting a handsome textbook more than a blood-pumping portrait. - 50
Screen Daily
Although occasionally stirring, the film rarely rises above the level of intriguing anecdote, resulting in a deeply drab drama enlivened somewhat by Matthew McConaughey’s empathetic performance. - 50
Variety
For all the ravaged surface appeal of McConaughey’s performance, the character is a little too good to be true, but then, that’s just the sort of movie Free State of Jones is. It’s a tale of racial liberation and heroic bloodshed that is designed, at almost every turn, to lift us up to that special place where we can all feel moved by what good liberals we are. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
A compelling and little-known story of the Civil War period is studiously reduced to a dry and cautious history lesson in Free State of Jones. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
Ross wants to shake up the format—notably with a few scenes set 85 years after the war—but like so many directors who have tackled historical social issues before him, he confuses noble, cornball sermonizing for art. - 50
Slant Magazine
After its bracing opening, the film begins to indulge the worst impulses of well-meaning liberal cinema.
