As with all civil war era films, a large part of the product has to be the look and feel. In this regard the Free State of Jones gets it spot on. Well from limited knowledge. The whispy extravagant facial hair is all there and everyone, on the whole, is scruffy and not too healthy looking. Director Gary Ross, if nothing else, has captured the feel and look of Civil War America. Attention to detail and patient story-telling create a strong hand in a period that has been filmed many times over the years.

Throw into the mix an earnest performance by Matthew McConaughey playing to his strengths, a laconic southern with a hidden backbone of steel, and you have a lead that can hold the story together more or less on his own. That’s not to say the supporting cast do not chip in. Oxford-born Gugu Mbatha-Raw adds another great performance to her, frankly growing, list and Mashershala Ali is inspirational, dignified and brave as freedman Moses Washington. Christopher Berry and Sean Bridgers add weight to the cast as Knight’s long-term and loyal friends and Keri Russell shines in a small but interesting role. McConaughey needs to be charismatic whilst playing a seemingly ordinary, undereducated man, to my mind this is no easy task and he shows that his McConaissance, whilst perhaps slightly weakened, is still healthy and frankly well-earned.

The problem that the Free State of Jones has is the scope of the real story. Spanning from 1862 in including scenes from 1948 that is a lot to cram into 140 minutes. Therefore like many Civil War-era films, scenes are bracketed by expository copy and cards, much like Glory. As with many films from this era you have wonder if a TV series might serve it better. This is not to say the film is poor or disjointed as it is, but the jumps from period to period sometimes jars, with huge events covered by two or three lines of text so that the film can focus on Knight and his friends and kin.

Like many stories of this kind composite characters have been added to drive the viewers emotions and if you are aware of this trick the two main characters in this film that are there for that purpose tend to stick out like a sore thumb. Having said this post-viewing research revealed that in general the film sticks to the facts as they are known. Matthew McConaughey even looks like the few photographs that exist of Knight.

This is a good US Civil War film showing a story that is probably not widely known about that period in US history. Add into the mix current events and the attitudes that are shown in the film have to be admired – obviously, they were probably not quite as ‘modern’ as depicted but films have to be made palatable to current audiences.

Not successful at the box office this is probably because the movie is slow paced and not what many thought a film about the Civil War would be with regard to action in these days of exploding buildings, death and mayhem. If you have patience the story creeps up on you and keeps your attention with what was ultimately a story of people beaten but not cowed by the gears of war that tried to chew them up.

Last, but most definitely not least, like so many historic biopics Free State of Jones means I then researched the real history. I see this as a huge positive for any historical film, even if they are wildly inaccurate, and hopefully, others will do as I have.

For a quick skim for facts in this type of thing I would recommend starting off with the excellent http://www.chasingthefrog.com