Review #1,136: 'Free State of Jones' (2016)

Making a point of eschewing the typical Hollywood formula for historical reenactment, Free State of Jones is an incredibly sober and stoic document chronicling the plight of a rag-tag bunch of farmers, Civil War deserters and escaped slaves who group together in the Mississippi swamps to fight the Confederate army who are taxing the poor in order to keep the rich fat and prosperous. After years of glossing over their bloody history, American film-makers now seem eager to depict the grim time of slavery and how it tore the country apart, no doubt reacting to the endless news stories of racially motivated violence, which seems to be on the rise in our fearful, paranoid society.

Writer/director Gary Ross (of Pleasantville (1998) and The Hunger Games (2012) fame) takes the subject matter so seriously that he has made less of a movie than a dramatised documentary, going as far as creating a website dedicated to explaining the historical and political context of the movie, as well as highlighting just how close to real-life the film veers. Apart from an opening battle in the trenches, where Confederate medic Newton 'Newt' Knight (Matthew McConaughey) finally loses faith in the South's cause, and a gun-fight between the rebels and a band of Dixie soldiers, the film is incredibly light on set-pieces, instead choosing to give a history lesson to the detriment of character development and emotional investment.

Newt's desertion places a target on his back, so he escapes into the Mississippi swamps where no army can touch him. He is helped by slave Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), while his wife Serena (Keri Russell) packs up and leaves after the constant having taxing by Confederate soldiers leaves her unable to support herself. Newt comes across a group of escaped slaves, bonding with Moses (Mahershala Ali) who is shackled by a horrific, pronged neck brace, and soon enough they are joined by poor folk unable to cope with the Army's constant harassment, and more deserters who have realised that they are fighting a rich man's war. With some smuggled-in weapons, the unlikely comrades choose to fight back, establishing the 'Free State of Jones', where any man is welcome and gets to eat what he grows.

Eager to draw parallels to the modern-day (the film occasionally switches to a court-case 80 years after the war involving Newt's great-great-great grandson) and highlighting a neglected chapter of American history, Free State of Jones clearly has its heart in the right place. Yet Ross is so clearly wary of causing offence in our overly-sensitive times, that the film becomes an emotional wasteland. McConaughey is terrific as the salt-of-the-earth leader, but his character is never allowed to develop beyond the odd motivational speech or moment of defiance. The film is strangely observational, making the drama about the rebellion rather than the rebels themselves. resulting in an absence of emotional investment when the more personal sub-plots play out. That said, it's incredibly well-made and authentic-looking, and I felt thoroughly educated afterwards.


Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell, Christopher Berry, Sean Bridgers, Thomas Francis Murphy
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #429: 'The Hunger Games' (2012)

It could be argued that we are living in the last decades of Western Civilisation as we know it. The connotations of our popular culture has all the elements of distraction from what actually matters within our society. Reality television is now the most watched entertainment, with it's collection of delusional contestants vying for their 15 minutes of fame, along with the populous need to both humiliate and celebrate people of little worth. This format of mass-distraction is mirrored in the fall of the Roman Empire, which had its Gladiatorial Colosseum's as both a form of distraction and control. In the 21st century, television (along with other forms of media communication) is used to control and sedate the masses, and foment apathy in the population. It is also a form of contagion that infects those who believe they can also be rich and famous with little or no ability or talent. This seems to be what The Hunger Games is attempting to comment on, within the context of a distopian future.

Set after an uprising during a war, North America has been divided into 12 districts controlled by its centre, The Capitol. Each year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected by a lottery from each district to fight to the death in a televisual show. From district 12, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), volunteers herself for the event after her younger sister was selected. Along with male contestant, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), are transported to the Capitol, which resembles the Roman cities that the film is attempting to align itself with. After training and attempts to get sponsors, they are let out into a forest world to fight.

I really can't be bothered to explain any further the plotting or character narratives within this film, as you will more than likely have seen it before: The Hunger Games has similar themes, and has an incredibly similar storyline to both Battle Royale (2000) and The Running Man (1987). Whilst it's central character is played well by Lawrence (she has a slight presence on screen with her ordinary beauty), she has very little to do in a weak script, and obvious plotting. The films iconography is lifted wholesale from Roman history, and its depiction of a vapid elitist population fails to enlighten the initial premise (that admittedly could have been good). Within the first hour the film also manages to insult the spectator by repeating certain scenes of dialogue only 20 minutes after it was initially shown ("We are totally aware that that happened, cause not much has happened since, and it happened moments ago").

Writer Suzanne Collins has stated that the inspiration for the book came from channel hopping between reality TV and the Iraq war, but she fails to find a voice strong enough to contextualise all the information into a credible framework, and simply seems to use the idea to speak only to the idiots who watch the reality TV that she seems to want to criticise; in other words the idea has been produced in much more intelligent ways elsewhere, whilst The Hunger Games decreases its concepts to feed it to the masses. Back to the 2010's, it has been suggested that around 90% of teenagers desire fame. In this narrative world, this desire simply is not there. In conclusion, interesting idea which fails to interest - the film is too long, and it simply does not engage.


Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy