“Violence is part and parcel of country life. You’re forever being assailed by dead things.”
Underneath the paved roads of good intentions that make up the social progress we’ve made in America is pounds and pounds of mud. It’s thick and dirty and unpleasant but it is the foundation of our country, whether we like it our not. Racial tensions have plagued the United States from the start, and it still exists to this day, even if it’s now presented in a more indirect package. This tension is the beating heart of Mudbound, the new film by Dee Rees (Pariah, Bessie) that centers on the very different experiences for a white veteran and a black veteran in Jim Crow-era Mississippi.
Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) is the white soldier, a charming, good-looking man who is haunted by the carnage he witnesses in World War II. This leads him to drink to forget the many friends he has lost and carelessly endangers his own life in the process. Meanwhile, Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell) is the black soldier who finds love while fighting abroad and does not exactly return to a hero’s welcome. Despite his service, Ronsel is tormented by the town’s racist community, of which Jamie’s father, Pappy (Jonathan Banks), is an influential member. Jamie and Ronsel come together and bond over their shared sacrifice, developing a friendship despite their staunchly divided groups.
Some reviewers have already noted the near Shakespearean qualities at the center of this story, with Jamie and Ronsel bridging the divide between two communities in a Romeo and Juliet-esque fashion. And much like other Shakespearean dramas, the peripheral characters around our two leads get significant room to shine and are intertwined in each other’s lives. The McAllan family is made up of Jamie’s older brother Henry (Jason Clarke), the favored brother of their father Pappy, while Henry’s wife Laura (Carey Mulligan) feels trapped in a loveless marriage. The McAllans buy a farm where the Jacksons work as tenant farmers, led by Hap (Rob Morgan) and Florence (Mary J. Blige), parents of Ronsel. Hap and Florence are very conscious of their ancestors’ past as slaves and long for a more humane way of living, but they are often forced to be subservient to the McAllans and the overall white community.
The film makes extensive use of voiceover to get us inside the minds of the characters, and while this device is generally grating in how it spells out everything to the audience, it manages to work here. These are characters wracked with sadness and guilt and repressed anger in an era where unless you’re a straight white male, you are often silenced, and thus the narration gives us a helpful glimpse at their inner pain. This deep characterization also helps the film become one of the best ensembles of the year, with Hedlund, Mitchell, Mulligan, Clarke, Blige, Morgan and Banks all giving impactful performances. Blige has been earning the lion’s share of notices from smaller awards groups and deservedly so. She has been nicknamed the Queen of Hip Hop Soul after 25 years of wearing her heart on her sleeve, and that passion shows through with Florence. Blige turns a relatively quiet role into one of the film’s most memorable performances through her weary yet warm facial expressions. Mitchell and Hedlund are just as good, both of them devastatingly real in the film’s final act.
Mudbound‘s strengths also lie in the photography. Cinematographer Rachel Morrison captures the vibrant fields and landscapes of the Deep South while also getting the audience to feel the emotions of the characters through close-ups without looking cheesy or dated. This is the kind of film that could easily look cheap with sepia tones and over-acting, like old Hollywood epics centering on families and farms, but Rees and Morrison give Mudbound a natural feeling, as if someone took a high-definition digital camera back in time to the 1940s and recorded what life really felt like and looked like in such times.
The film was based on a 2008 novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan, and you can tell from the richly-developed characters and sweeping plot. Despite the voiceovers to help craft each of the main characters, though, there is a sense that the novel delves even deeper into characters like Laura and Florence and Hap in a way that the audience would feel even more connected. Such is the problem with adapting a story from a medium that provides more insight into what the characters are thinking and feeling. In the rush to get through all the main plot points, characterization can get a little lost. Mudbound does come in at a hefty 134 minutes, but some of these characters are so intriguing that it could have been even better with an extra 10 minutes or so.
Mudbound is one of the films in contention to nab Oscar glory this year, but luckily you don’t have to wait for it to come out in your neck of the woods. With Netflix having bought the distribution rights to the film, it is currently available to stream for free with your subscription right now from the comfort of your couch. The movie tackles some uncomfortable truths about American history, and while it won’t necessarily distract from the horrible things going on in this country these days, it will absolutely leave an impact on you by the time the end credits roll.
★★★★☆
FOR YOUR AWARDS CONSIDERATION:
Best Picture
Best Director — Dee Rees
Best Supporting Actor — Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell
Best Supporting Actress — Mary J. Blige
Best Adapted Screenplay — Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Best Production Design
Best Cinematography
Best Makeup and Hairstyling