Movie #1310 .........................."Free State of Jones"

Movie #1310 "Free State of Jones" was a tough movie to watch (much like "12 years a slave") -- it is a history lesson but from a different angle --- we are following a Confederate soldier who is a medic and he sees how plantation owners who are bleeding are treating better than others; he also feels that blacks are people, too, so when he goes awol, he heads for the swamps and hides among the blacks and other southerners whose houses/land that were taken over by Confederate soldiers.  He starts up a  militia and tries to get more guns from the North --- they are hesitant to give them much, so the militia decides they just will take over the counties that they can and call it a free state.   I had never heard of this story, so it was quite eye-opening to follow where it was going.  Then, the film goes even further, into reconstruction, which includes the rise of the KKK where there are hangings that are so brutal to watch (one in particular of a much loved character in the film) , but also hangings of people who have come out of the swamp because they are afraid of the Confederate soldiers, just to be killed by them anyway.  The whole film is a story within a story --- but there isn't too much said on the outside story except it is a son of jones who wants to marry a white girl, and the court is saying he is part black --- there is some mystery the way this court case is presented, so I guess the director thought it would sustain our interest.  Because there wasn't much there, it seem to distract from the story a little, but I understand why they put it in, just a bit clumsy in the presentation.  Acting is good --- Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (again great!) and academy award nominee Mahershala Ali (from "Moonlight" and "House of Cards").  3.8 out of 5 stars.

"FREE STATE OF JONES"     2016      R rated       2 hr  19 mins    

As the Civil War rages on, Mississippi farmer Newton Knight, his neighbors and a ragtag group of slaves band together and lead Jones County to secede from the Confederacy, establishing a mixed-race free state in the heart of the South.

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali.