Free State of Jones
ReeNoun
The Free State of Jones stars Matthew McConaughey and Gugu Mbatha-raw. This movie is particularly interesting to me because I have quite a few family members with the surname, Knight, born in SoSo, Mississippi. This is where the infamous, Newton Knight settled and where he is buried. This sparked my interest and I begin to do a little research. As it turns out, I am Newton Knight's cousin. Granted, I am a few times removed, but his first cousin was actually my great great great grandfather, Daniel Knight. Knight fathered five children by my great great great grandmother, Harriet Carter Knight Ward. She was a slave, born a Carter (slave owner surname), who became a Knight (slave owner surname), and finally married a Ward. She worked on Newton and Daniel Knight's grandparents' plantation. According to family history, she was roughly 13 when Daniel took an interest in her. Between 1855-1865 she gave birth to five of his children: Andy, Sam, Mary, Joanann and Ceille. I am a descendant of this line.
But...enough about me. Back to the movie. ***This next portion will contain spoilers!***
Free State Of Jones begins with a gory scene from the Civil War. It's really pretty gruesome but Newton Knight is there to help. We are introduced to him for the first time as he aids injured soldiers. When he fails at saving the life of his young nephew, it becomes his breaking point. He leaves the Confederate army to go home to properly bury his nephew.
Once home, he sees how the women (his wife, Serena included), are left to fend for themselves. Most are starving because the Confederate army keeps taking everything they own. Newt promises that they aren't going to take anymore and assembles a tiny company out of a family who (actually) prevails.
His power to lead is demonstrated in this moment. Free State of Jones depicts Newton Knight as neither a confederate deserter or a union supporter. He is simply a man tired of seeing the people he cares about die. Not to mention, his resentment for rich (slave owners) who are not required to fight in the war. It's a discussion point in the movie. It's the absurdity that they (poorer white southerners and blacks alike) are dying for something that isn't even their fight.
"How many slaves you own?" Newt asks at one point. His band of brothers shake their heads to indicate none.
“30% of White Southerns owned slaves.”
Newt's strategic tactics win him battle after battle, painting him smarter than the Confederates. He does spend time hiding out in the swamps. Aided by Rachel, the biracial slave, who he meets earlier. Also in the swamp hiding out with him, is a small group of runaway slaves that he befriends. Moses, who has an almost literal albatross around his neck, and Newt become good friends. As other white men join the cause, it's clear that the plight of the black man really has nothing to do with it.
In one scene, the Newt-led company celebrates a victory with a roasted pig. Moses, who the audience should adore by now, has a slice of hog, after everyone else has gotten their fill. That's when one hateful bastard calls him the n-word. Newt, who overhears and points out that the n-word now applies to them all.
The n-word is used in a similar scene by a white character in the movie, The Keeping Room. It's used in this way, I think, to demonstrate that southern poor whites were in no better position than the former slaves. No matter what the government fed them (encouraging their hatred based mostly on skin color alone). Their economic status was truly the only real determining factor in regard to power.
This is one of only two times that Newt directly addresses racism in the movie. The other time, is when he gives the citizens the rules of the Free State of Jones. It's number 4 or 5, I think, before he says, "Every man is a man. If you walk on two legs, you're a man. The way I see it."
The audience waits for a response from the ONE hateful bastard, but there is none. Then we see that ultimately he (hateful bastard) causes the death of himself and two other by hanging, at the hands, nonetheless of the Confederacy. Newt weeps.
If you were hoping to see an epic love affair... sorry. Newt's relationship with slave, Rachel is downplayed. He very simply, falls in love with Rachel. Newt and Rachel first meet when she is summoned to cure his son from a fever. Their romance, again comes to the forefront when they, presumably, consummate their relationship. Newt leads Rachel into a room with a feather-stuffed quilt. She weeps uncontrollably because she has never experienced something so lush. This is symbolism too, since Rachel has only been raped at this point and never touched consensually.
When their baby is born, Rachel asks Newt if the baby looks more white or black. Newt says neither, that the baby might be his own creation. Oddly, the director decides to flash forward 85 years to a courtroom. It's their (Newt and Rachel's grandson) who is on trial for having married a white woman.
If you just mouthed WTF, you're not alone. I still can't understand why the few and far between flashbacks were even apart of the movie at all. It was confusing albeit interesting that Newt's grandson was trying to prove that his heritage was from Serena (Newt's legal first white wife) and not, Rachel. It really threw me off a bit.
The movie starts to wind down as the war ends and Newt takes up residency in SoSo--a tiny town (I know, I've been there) not too far from where they all once lived. While Rachel (his common law wife) and Serena (his prodigal wife) live harmoniously side by side. Newt is still ostracized by the community outside of the Free State of Jones.
Good movie.
My only criticisms were:
Glorifying guns. Americans know how to shoot people. Almost every issue in the movie was solved by or with a gun. I get it. That's how things went down in the ... south, the north, the east and especially the (wild wild) west. But damn, couldn't there have been something to reference the modern day issues that (people with) guns have ultimately caused?
Racism. *SPOILER* When Moses is castrated and hung, Newt is upset but doesn't really do anything. He even sees Moses' killer when they (he and the only black men who weren't afraid for their lives) go into town to vote. Rachel is beaten, because she won't willingly accept the sexually assaults of her slave master anymore (presumably because of Newt). Newt burns several hundred bushels of cotton in her honor. There were so many missed opportunities to address some of the racial injustice still relevant today.
*For more information about Harriet Carter Knight Ward visit:
My great great great grandmother and her husband, Ike