My regular reader will know that since watching a great TV series on Netflix, not actually about the civil war, but that included Ulysses S Grant as a character, my chap Phil has gone down the rabbit hole of finding out properly about the civil war. Starting with a great 3 part documentary series on Sky about the general (called succinctly, Grant) which he said was top notch, we then got a list of films and documentaries from Pete over at Beetleypete blog and started with Ken Burns excellent documentary ‘The Civil War’ whilst we waited for blurays to arrive. In the meantime we found a couple on Netflix/Prime, and the first one was Ride With The Devil which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago HERE and now the others have arrived so we’re up and running.
Free State of Jones
This 2016 movie stars Matthew McConaughey as Newt Wright, a Confederate soldier who desserts after surviving the Battle of Corinth in 1862, when he finds out men who own 20 slaves or more are exempt from duties and can go home. It was directed and written by Gary Ross who spent a good few years researching the war, and directed the first Hunger Games to help finance it. Newt Wright becomes leader of a company of deserters and runaway slaves in Jones County, Mississippi, and the movie tells not only how that comes about, but also covers part of what’s known as the Restoration, post-war, and the prosecution of Newt’s great grandson in 1948 when it was a criminal offence to look white but have black heritage, and marry a white person.
Not an easy watch by any stretch (which it shouldn’t be) as it portrays the abject conditions and cruelty that slaves and even freed slaves were subjected to, the carnage of warfare, and the inhumanity of segregation and slavery. It didn’t do well at the box office, released on the same day as the intellectually superior Independence Day-Resurgance, and The Shallows, another weighty movie starring A Bikini with Blake Lively in it. It also got accused of being a ‘white-saviour’ movie, but in this case I think that’s unfair, but I’m probably not the best judge of that being a white person. In anycase, no-one is really saved, so there is that!
Ross directs his movie with love, the attention to detail is astounding. McConaughey does a masterful job as Newt, and excellent acting from Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel, Newts second wife and an ex slave whomst she imbues with stoic dignity and grace, and Mahershala Ali as Moses Washington, a runaway slave who becomes a political activist after the war, a solid, emotional performance. It opened our eyes to a part of the war (so far) not covered in the Ken Burns documentary, to show that not all Southern folks were against the union, and not all agreed with segregation or slavery.
Extra eye-opening reading well worth doing if you are interested in the Civil War https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-free-state-jones-180958111/
Fraggle Rating:- top notch.
Fraggle's Otherverse 
As you know, I reviewed this on my blog, and by coincidence watched it again recently on TV. I thinks it’s a great film, but its length might put off people who are not Civil War film fans.
Glad you two liked it though. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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We really were engrossed so didn’t notice the length. Cheers Pete.
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I enjoyed it being longer. It was able to feature what happened after the war. Great film!
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This is one of my favorite Civil War movies, along with Glory, Gettysburg, and Lincoln. Have you started watching Ken Burn’s documentary series? We wound up buying it on dvd.
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Yes we finished it last night, brilliant. Will be doing the movies you mention 😊
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Ken Burns has done a number of amazing documentaries on a lot of subjects. The Civil War was an excellent one. American history is convoluted and strange, some inspiring, some disgusting. All countries have this in common, but it seems the US has been especially ugly of late. Let’s hope for better times soon!
Keep the reviews coming! We have followed up on some and have enjoyed them.
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Will do! Cheers Naomi
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It sounds interesting, but my brain is stuck on the idea of someone being prosecuted for the colour of his ancestors’ skin. It reminds me that in Germany in the 30s they worked out how remote your Jewish ancestry had to be before you could be considered not Jewish.
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Yes, incomprehensible to us. Though it is a very small part of the movie.
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Thanks for the recommendation Frag. Totally off topic, apart from it being a movie … I watched “The Mercy” recently after recording it from the BBC. It’s a 2017 film based on the true story of an amateur yachtsman who attempts to sail around the world. I found it absolutely gripping, especially as it’s true.
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Cheers will have a look!
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I’m trying to remember what score I gave this. I do remember liking it more than I expected to. And MM is always worth a watch.
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Yes he does some great work here.
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He has such natural charisma. We’ve always liked him in our household.
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“I’m probably not the best judge of that being a white person.” as a red person myself I think you shouldn’t discount your opinion because race (as that would be racial discrimination) but, in this case, nationality; the history of black Britons, with their ancient presence there, is different from the terrible story in North Africa and the Americas, or at least that is noted by Salman Rushdie and the BBC, An Asian working till suicide in Taiwan, the slaves still sold in North Africa, or the slaves in factories of South America, all in these days, I feel would relate more to the ordeal of slaves in the past of the U.S. than the modern U.S. citizens whose quality of life can make them billionaires and world famous and loved, without negating the problems they face but, then again, in a developed country, when I was a kid terrorism waged war and we, red white brown and black, suffered it the same. A movie I saw and liked because is balanced about racism was Green Book. I have not seen this one but I appreciate the work of Matthew McConaughey. Anyway, wishing you a belated happy new year, fragglerocking. I hope it is better all of us than the previous one.
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Cheers Francis, hope you are keeping well!
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