Free State of Jones (2016) on Netflix
R20162h 19mActionBiographyDramaHistoryWarWestern
Medic Newton Knight deserts after his nephew Daniel dies at Corinth and goes home to Jones County, Mississippi. Branded a deserter, he joins runaway slaves in the swamps and raises a militia.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.9/1068,829 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes48%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1863, Newton Knight serves as a medic in the Confederate Army in Mississippi. He tends the wounded at Corinth, where his nephew Daniel is killed, and he learns that men who own twenty or more slaves are exempt from the fighting. He deserts and returns to his farm and his wife Serena in Jones County. When Confederate soldiers seize crops and livestock from his neighbors, Newton gives one family rifles to defend themselves and threatens an officer. Ordered arrested for treason, he flees, is bitten by a dog, and Aunt Sally sends him into the swamps, where Rachel leads him to runaway slaves under Moses Washington. They take him in while he recovers from his wound.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Free State of Jones (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Gary Ross finished writing Free State of Jones before making The Hunger Games, and declined to work on that series' sequels in the hope it would help him get his own film financed, though he still struggled afterwards.
- Free State of Jones was a passion project for director Gary Ross, who spent ten years developing it before it reached the screen.
