The Free State of Jones 2016

     The setting of this film is during the Civil War and it’s based on a book titled The Free State of Jones: Mississippi’s Longest Civil War by Victoria Bynum.  Newt Knight is serving as a battlefield medic in the Confederate Army 1862 at the Battle of Corinth.  A teenage relative is killed and Newt leaves the battlefield to take him home to his family.  He decides he’s not going back and he will be a deserter.  He gets help to go to a hiding place in the swamps.  There are other deserters and runaway slaves hiding.  Newt learns that Confederate troops are taking crops and livestock from families left behind for taxes.  After the Siege of Vicksburg, many Confederates abandoned the war and revolted against the Confederacy.  They captured a piece of southeast Mississippi.

139 min, Action directed by Gary Ross with Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell, Christopher Berry, Sean Bridgers, Jacob Lofland, Thomas Francis Murphy, Bill Tangradi.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 47% critic 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 1417 reviews.

Special Note:  This film is fictional but based on history.  Filmed in Jones County, Mississippi; St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans, Buckner Mansion, Bush, St Bernard, Edgard, Paradis, Clinton, Greensburg, Braithwaite and Washington, Louisiana.  A document was discovered in the National Archives in 2016 that is a request by Newton Knight’s company to join the Union Army in 1864.  More than 7,000 people submitted head shots and resumes to be considered for a job as an extra on this film.