Cinema Styles: Mudbound will stick with you
Note: This is entry 3 of 5 in our film review series in celebration of Women’s History Month.
Mudbound is an underrated gem of a movie. The film was directed by Dee Rees, a Black woman and member of the LGBTQ community.
It tells the tale of two families struggling in rural Mississippi during World War II. The Mcallans are a white family and they own an unsuccessful farm. The Jacksons are a Black family who works and lives on the farm. Both families have a son sent to fight in the war, and much of the story deals with their readjustment back into society after returning home. These men face battles at home and battles abroad, with the former being more dangerous for one of them.
The movie is novelistic in structure, shifting focus between Mississippi and Europe, effectively drawing a comparison between the brutality present in both locales during the 1940’s. The Jackson family confronts constant racism, and the hostile environment around them is analogous to being in a warlike scenario. Their lives are consistently at risk as they simply try to exist.
The film’s novelesque approach is also presented in the form of multiple narrators. Various characters provide inner monologues about the events transpiring in the story. This access to the private thoughts of the characters is typically unavailable in a movie. This allows for the possibility of unreliable narrators, as certain aspects of the story are viewed through a particular character’s perspective, and might be subject to their biases.
Even though the movie is modern, it feels classical in approach. The film is epic in scope and feels like a slow-burn to an explosive conclusion. It’s a moment from American history frozen in time, and it fully immerses the audience into the tragedy that was the daily lives of many people living during this time.
That said, the story also feels relevant to the daily lives of many people living in modern times. The film is set in a specific time period, but the themes of the story and struggles of the characters are timeless and universal. It feels like it has one foot in the present, and one foot in the past, straddling the line between the two.
The movie features themes of connection, with disparate individuals stuck together, like mud on the bottom of a boot. These characters are linked by themes such as loss, PTSD, disinheritance, and in the case of the matriarchs of the families, economic disempowerment. While it’s heavy and features moments of disturbing violence, the film also offers hope in the idea of love as a means of survival. There are images of beauty juxtaposed with images of brutality.
There’s no shortage of great performances in the movie. Jason Mitchell and Garrett Hedlund are excellent as the two soldiers returning from war. Most notable though are the two mothers, played by Mary J. Blige and Carey Mulligan. Blige was nominated for two Academy Awards for this movie: Best Supporting Actress and Best Song. The film’s other two nominations were for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
This movie was selected to celebrate Women’s History Month, not only because the director is a woman, but because so many of the other important behind-thescenes roles were filled by women. These include composer Tamarkali, cinematographer Rachel Morrison, and editor Mako Kamitsuna. The movie is also based on a novel, written by Hillary Jordan. Each of their contributions are vital to the film’s quality.
Dee Rees is a young director with a bright career ahead of her. Her breakout film was Pariah (2011), a personal tale of a Brooklyn teenager embracing her identity as a lesbian. Rees is extremely articulate when describing the thought that goes into her films. Her consideration of even the most minute details of the filmmaking process is impressive and awe-inspiring. I highly recommend listening to the podcast episode of The Director’s Cut from December 1, 2017. This podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of America, and in this episode, Rees is interviewed about Mudbound by another acclaimed female director: Mira Nair. Mudbound can currently be streamed on Netflix.
Bobby Styles studied Film at UCLA, and worked as an editor and producer on several film, commercial, and music video projects in Los Angeles. He currently teaches the intermediate and advanced Video Production courses in the Multimedia & Technology Academy at Monache High School. His column appears in The Recorder every Tuesday.