FREE STATE OF JONES
starring Matthew McConaughey
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This is an excellent movie depicting the determination of a Confederate army deserter in his dream of affecting change to American society. He wants the nation to accept his view that no child of God can be held as property by another. All men are equal and free.
Storyline
Set during the Civil War, Free State of Jones tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy. Banding together with other small farmers and local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, distinguishing him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War.
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Rather than consider this as a movie review per se, I’d rather it be a social comment and a piece worth posting for notification during Black History month.
McConaughey is an actor whose value and worth as an actor are undervalued and maybe undersold. View his movie Dallas Buyers Club to watch an actor at a superb level of excellence in his performance.
In Free State, McConaughey takes on a role that is social commentary. The scenes with the KKK riders inflame emotional responses that oppose such activities for obvious reasons. But the movie prods one along this line of emotion and response over and over again.
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Act legislatively terminating slavery in the US needed federal soldiers to enforce the law. The KKK’s continuous virality and ongoing survival for years after demonstrates the futility of the legislation. Even today, not just in the USA but even in Canada, we suffer the evil of racism and xenophobic incidents.
The movie is a tribute to those who opposed slavery and support the philosophy that all people are equal.
A very worthwhile movie to watch from the historical/sociological perspective. It is entertaining to boot.
