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Poster for Free State of Jones

Free State of Jones

For justice. For pride. For freedom.

2016 · 2h 20m · R Action, Drama, History, War
Directed by Gary Ross

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Overview

In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
47%
Tomatometer
Rotten

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.

Vann R. Newkirk, The Atlantic
Rotten

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.

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out
Fresh

The director and screenwriter Gary Ross illuminates immense historical spans with the true story of one man's revolt during the Civil War.

Richard Brody, New Yorker
Fresh

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.

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
Rotten

A Civil War rebellion becomes an enervating movie by Gary Ross.

Peter Howell, Toronto Star

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