Upon witnessing the death of a young southern farm boy, Knight becomes jaded by gruelling battlefield life and seeks to bring an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government. The impenetrable Jones County swamps offer an unprejudiced haven for army deserter Knight alongside an escaped band of knowledgeable plantation slaves. The ultimate encapsulation as a figure of defiance Knight leads a guerrilla militia (comprised of slaves, absconders and women) in search of political justice. Interweaving two generational tales set 85 years apart, the tribulations of Knight’s rebellious regiment are juxtaposed with occasional flash-forwards depicting the miscegenation trial of Davis Knight (Newton’s great grandson) in 1948. This needless subplot contests the maternal parentage of Davis and whether any enforced racial segregation laws had been broken. The unnecessary and dispensable court room scenes throw the pace staggeringly off balance, lending a superfluous TV drama quality to an otherwise gruelling period piece. Four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross (Seabiscuit/The Hunger Games) tactfully utilises his meticulously detailed screenplay, which is based on a decade of independent research with input from pre-eminent Civil War scholars. Martha Hodes of New York University and Eric Foner of Columbia University offered key details on 19th century interracial sexuality and the Reconstruction era retrospectively. In a bid to cram in decades worth of historical events, Ross (who also directs the feature) loses the affecting narrative periodically throughout the two hour and twenty minute run time, lending a dull history lesson tendency that monotonously flatlines in the final third act. Free State Of Jones is in UK cinemas now. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
