“Free State of Jones,” October 17, 2016 (2016), DVD. Primitive Baptist Confederate soldier Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) deserts from the rebel army as he comes to understand the war as a rich man’s war/poor man’s fight. He takes up with a band of runaway slaves, draws other deserters, slaves and locals to him, and declares war on the Confederacy from inside Jones County, Mississippi. Based on a true story (one I’d heard of in grad school but never knew much about) this is a story of transformation and radicalization during and after the war as palpable injustice strips away the racial bigotries he grew with and he is transformed in the process, creating a bi-racial family and free zone during and after the war. Sadly, of course, Reconstruction undoes these efforts. Well worth seeing this underappreciated film. It treads close to the “great white leader” view of things, but doesn’t fall into that trap. It is a very interesting, powerful film that is especially important at this moment. Check out the special features that speak to the present among his fragmented family groups and that show his continuing impact among some folks in that part of the south.