Free State of Jones

I love epic historical dramas, but I especially love those that make me curious and want to read more about the subject.   That is exactly what happened when I saw a previous Gary Ross movie, Seabiscuit, and that is what happened to me today  after seeing “Free State of Jones.”  Matthew McConaughey plays Newton Knight, a Confederate army deserter who returns to his home county in Mississippi to organize farmers and fugitive slaves in a revolt against the Confederate officials who are unfairly taking their crops and property.  What a fascinating character!  There is so much to his story that much is inevitably glossed over or left out.  The film could have spent less time on Newton  as an army medic and more on how he was able to successfully live with his Black common-law wife in one of the most racist states in the Union.  The fact that he lived with her and his legal wife  all on the same property, and raised 13 kids between the two families, would have made an excellent movie in and of itself.  Another part I  feel could have been left out, or told in an addendum, is the inclusion of Newton’s great-grandson’s trial for miscegenation in the late 1940’s. This could also have been a separate movie.  “Free State of Jones” does show in brutal realism some of the heartbreaking aspects of this little known revolt, especially the hanging of some young deserters and the lynching of a beloved character.  I am definitely glad I saw this movie.  I am now off to see if I can find a good biography of Newton Knight.  Amazon here I come!