In realistic and gripping take on rig tragedy
AMERICANS love their revolutionary heroes, but Newton Knight isn’t your typical American revolutionary.
During the Civil War, this Southern farmer led a rag-tag band of escaped slaves and Confederate deserters against their own army. According to writer-director Gary Ross, he went on to found a quasi socialist state in the heart of the Confederate South.
With a story as fascinating and as little-known as Knight’s, a biopic couldn’t fail to entertain, especially one with a brilliant Matthew McConaughey in the lead role.
The first half is great. Knight grows disillusioned with the Southern cause on the battlefield, deserts, hides out in a swamp and becomes a sort of Robin Hood figure to starving farmers.
When his merry band grows, he goes on to take whole swathes of Mississippi, holding them under the Stars and Stripes until the end of the war.
That’s enough plot for any movie. But Ross simply doesn’t know when to stop.
There’s also a love story, an examination of post war segregation and flashes forward to a 1940s courtroom. What could have been a great 10-part TV series is now one very over-stuffed feature.