Trailer
Full Movie Online Streaming
Free State of Jones is a 2016 American historical period war film inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed revolt against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, throughout the American Civil War. Written and directed by Gary Ross, the film stars Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali and Keri Russell.
It was released in the United States by STX Entertainment on June 24, 2016. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed just $25 million against its $50 million production budget.
After surviving the 1862 Battle of Corinth, Newton Knight, a poor farmer from Jones County serving as a battlefield medic in the Confederate Army, deserts and returns home to his farm and his wife, Serena. While there, he befriends Rachel, a slave woman who has secretly learned to read.
Newton's disenchantment with the Confederacy grows after finding out that troops were taking crops and livestock for taxes. After helping one family resist such a raid, he is bitten by a slave-catching dog. With the help of abolitionist Aunt Sally and multiple slaves, he escapes to a swamp where some runaway slaves led by Moses Washington tend to his wounds.
After the Siege of Vicksburg, many Confederates abandoned their post, and many of them ended up at the swamp. The Confederates and runaway slaves grouped up, and created a revolt against the Confederacy. They accomplished their goal and capture a piece of south-east Mississippi, organizing it as the "Free State of Jones". Despite getting little help from the Union, they manage to hold out until the end of the war.
Newton resumed to fight racial inequality. He helped free Moses' son from an "apprenticeship" to Rachel's former master and registering freedmen to vote. He and Rachel have a son, Jason. Since they are unable to marry, Newton arranges to deed a parcel of land to her.
The story is interspersed with the saga of Newton's great-great-great grandson, who is arrested under Mississippi's miscegenation laws 85 years after the war. Since he is of one-eighth black descent, under Mississippi law at that time he is considered black, and therefore could not legally marry his long-time sweetheart. He is sentenced to five years in prison, but his conviction is thrown out by the Mississippi Supreme Court rather than risk the law being declared unconstitutional.
| Free State of Jones | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
| |
| Directed by | Gary Ross |
| Produced by |
|
| Screenplay by | Gary Ross |
| Story by | Leonard Hartman Gary Ross |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Nicholas Britell |
| Cinematography | Benoît Delhomme |
| Edited by | |
Production
companies |
|
| Distributed by | STX Entertainment |
Release date
|
|
Running time
| 140 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million[2] |
| Box office | $85 million[3] |
