Free State Of Jones
As civil war divides the nation, defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, from Mississippi leads a group of extraordinary armed rebels against the Confederate army, which would forever change history.
19 October 1954, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
6 February 1984, USA
11 May 1979, Laurel, Mississippi, USA
21 April 1983, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
26 May 2006, Jackson, Mississippi, USA
3 March 1968, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
December 31, 2016
It's a plodding and dry story that feels like something only a History Channel-addicted dad could love. And it's surprising how bad it is given the players.
June 29, 2016
It certainly looks and sounds right, and probably smells right too -- these gunky Mississippi battles and unwashed soldiers feel authentic. The problem, as with McConaughey's performance, is that you always do feel it.
March 21, 2017
While all the performances are solid, there's too much of a distance from the setting of the story to truly create an immersive experience between the audience and the film.
December 26, 2016
A must for Civil War buffs, Free State of Jones is a ripping fictionalised drama about true events long hidden from history's spotlight.
February 08, 2017
Free State of Jones is a worthy experience, both instructive and provocative -- a lot of what goes on here is starting to look too familiar for comfort.
July 11, 2016
A better film would have muddled the clean white-savior narrative with an actual exploration of what the racial politics of a mixed-race insurgency in the South might have been like.
June 27, 2016
The director and screenwriter Gary Ross illuminates immense historical spans with the true story of one man's revolt during the Civil War.
January 01, 2017
McConaughey plays Newton Knight in one key, the key of righteous indignation, just what the story calls for.
June 24, 2016
As inherently astonishing and powerful as this little-known episode is, it has not been well-served by Ross' lumpy, ill-conceived script, which ends up wasting Matthew McConaughey's terrific lead performance and other strong acting contributions.
December 17, 2016
Absolutely nothing but a history lesson, presented in what feel like deliberately uncinematic terms.
June 24, 2016
Ross bit off more than he can chew... the story lolls and wallows in wartime violence and the rebellion, then rushes through the horrors and trauma of Reconstruction.
