By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Reviews: Free State of Jones and Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Free State of Jones harkens back to the Civil War era and its aftermath for an arcane and fascinating piece of time that eluded even Ken Burns. Set in Jones County, Mississippi, It centers on disaffected Southerners struggling through a war and a cause unrelated to their daily existence but nonetheless demanding sacrifice they find unduly oppressive.
Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) is a conscript assigned to sweep the battlefields for fallen soldiers. It’s a perilous task that has honed his survival instincts to the nth degree. But the tipping point comes when a teenage relative arrives and is brought low in his very first skirmish.
Knight decides to go AWOL; taking the corpse of his kin back home for a proper burial. He tells his comrades this is not his war. It’s a conflict for plantation owners and slave holders exempt from military duty by age or vocation.
Back home he finds family and neighbors victim of Confederate laws that demand a tithe of crops and stock to the war effort. By law it’s ten percent; in practice it’s closer to everything. So he decides to stand with the largely female population against the authorities and that defiance makes him a marked man. The protagonist finds refuge in the swamps along with fellow deserters and runaway slaves. It’s his version of Sherwood Forest and this Robin Hood abets the poor by forcefully opposing the minions of the wealthy grandees. Knight winds up declaring a portion of the state an independent domain with a charter of principles though devoid of a legal/political body, which gives the film its title.
Based on historic documents, the film is a compelling look at strength and resistance of a little-known time. The attention to detail is staggering; tirelessly recreating a bygone time through stark images from cinematographer Benoît Delhomme and evocative production design by Philip Messina.
As vibrant as Free State of Jones can be, it falters through a dense narrative that descends into secondary concerns. A 1950s trial of Knight’s ancestor for misogamy fails to provide contemporary resonance and the era of Reconstruction following the Civil War comes short of extending the grim history.
There’s unquestionably sufficient material here for several films or a TV miniseries and writer-director Gary Ross appears hellbent on cramming every bit of research he’s collected into a single feature. He winds up being his own worst enemy; under-cutting the potency of the saga with minutia that’s arresting but not always dramatic.
Free State also gets a considerable boost from McConaughey’s finest film work. It’s precise, nuanced and largely free of histrionics. He provides much-needed humanity and a first-person perspective on decency and tolerance in an era when such qualities weren’t in ample abundance.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a family film with a wicked sense of humor, a manhunt through the wilds and even a car chase, as well as New Zealand’s highest-grossing native movie. Cherubic 13-year old Ricky Baker (Julian Dennision) is a troubled native boy who’s been bounced through social services and has reached the end of the chain. His last chance is the remote cabin of the big-hearted Bella and her gruff companion Hec (Sam Neill). The system couldn’t be happier to be rid of him.
Ricky’s belligerence and monosyllabic stance is no match for Bella’s unconditional love. Besides his vain initial attempts to escape are thwarted by his total lack of skill in the bush. But the fairytale is short-lived. Bella succumbs to a heart attack and social services returns him to the urban environment.
The set-up is equal parts saccharine and social conscience. But writer-director Taika Waititi is more of a social satirist keen to bend conventions and thumb his nose at preconceived expectations. His collaboration on the “Flight of the Conchords” series led to What We Do in the Shadows, a hilarious pseudo-documentary about vampires attempting to live the “square life.”
Ricky’s resistance to returning to civilization is abetted by serendipity. Hec is sufficiently self aware that he’s ill-suited to take over guardianship. But when he twists his ankle in the wilds they fail to meet their date with the authorities. They are assumed to be fugitives and that’s just fine with Ricky. Hec just has an inbred resistance to the system.
The skewered perspective and good natured quality of Hunt for the Wilderpeople is simply disarming. Dennison is a natural and without over-playing his hand, Neill revels in playing against time as a taciturn backwoodsman. There’s also a drop-dead funny turn from Waititi as the minister presiding over Bella’s funeral. The film sets the natural rugged beauty of New Zealand against the small-minded bureaucracy of any good “progressive” democracy. It’s a universal reality that’s readily relatable and effortlessly funny.
