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Civil War drama ‘Free State of Jones’ clutters its historical narrative

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Matthew McConaughey in Free State of Jones.

Two and a half stars

Free State of Jones Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali. Directed by Gary Ross. Rated R. Opens Friday citywide.

Historical opinion is divided on Newton Knight, who was either a Civil War hero who bravely refused to fight for the Confederacy and defended the rights of his fellow poor farmers, or an opportunistic murderer who took advantage of those poor farmers to grab power for himself. Even Knight’s descendants have written books with opposing views on the subject. Writer-director Gary Ross’ Free State of Jones comes down firmly on the side of Knight as a hero, so much so that he’s a fairly one-dimensional character, despite a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey.

Jones opens with some brutal Civil War battlefield footage, so it’s hard to blame Knight when he deserts the Confederate army and heads home to Jones County, Mississippi, to reunite with his wife and young son. The movie takes a while to build up to what Knight is mainly known for: gathering a community of fellow deserters, farmers and runaway slaves and declaring Jones County and its surrounding areas free from Confederate rule. After his wife Serena (Keri Russell) leaves him, Knight takes up with former slave Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), but their relationship is pretty thinly sketched, as are most of the supporting characters.

The middle of the movie has some rousing battle sequences, including a great scene in which Knight and his ragtag band stage a fake funeral so they can ambush a group of Confederate soldiers. And Ross makes sure to show how isolated and alone the Jones County militia was, bombarded by the Confederacy and ignored by the Union. It’s a fascinating piece of little-known Civil War lore that, for an hour or so, makes for a solid historical drama.

But the movie drags on for a good 40 minutes after the war ends, as Ross rushes through the notable milestones of Reconstruction, following Knight as he struggles to help former slaves vote and reunites with his estranged wife while having a child with Rachel. Even more bafflingly, the movie periodically cuts to a courtroom in the 1940s, where Knight’s great-grandson Davis is being tried for miscegenation after marrying a white woman, because he’s allegedly descended from Knight’s relationship with Rachel. Maybe Ross thought that broadening the story this way would give it more contemporary resonance, but instead it just makes the movie feel directionless, especially when Ross cuts from tense wartime drama to the grandstanding of the small-town courthouse decades later. Knight may have been a divisive figure, but the movie about him works hard to make him a righteous crusader for justice, often at the expense of effective character development and storytelling.

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