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VANITY: Free State of Jones
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124037/?ref_=nv_sr_1 | self

Posted on 06/27/2016 4:38:13 PM PDT by ZinGirl

Civil War movie. I saw this last night and I highly recommend it. I'm not a Civil War enthusiast nor do I claim to be an expert in either Civil War or wars in general. However, this movie moved me. "and that's all I have to say about that". :) (posting this in General/Chat. Don't want to break any rules or ruffle any feathers)


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History
KEYWORDS: moviereview; pcgarbage
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1 posted on 06/27/2016 4:38:13 PM PDT by ZinGirl
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To: leaning conservative; Extremely Extreme Extremist

shameless ping :) forgive if not appropriate.


2 posted on 06/27/2016 4:39:56 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ZinGirl
Thanks for the PING.

I saw a poster of it when I went to see another movie and did some Googling. Turns out this was a true story and was surprised that it happened. I'm a huge Civil War buff and I still didn't know about this.

3 posted on 06/27/2016 4:45:21 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Moderate Muslims are the fans cheering for blood during a hockey game)
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To: ZinGirl

I am a history buff but had not heard of this story until the movie was being released. There was a good article about it, in Smithsonian Magazine, IIRC.


4 posted on 06/27/2016 4:45:36 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Yep - Jones County Mississippi.


5 posted on 06/27/2016 4:46:18 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: ZinGirl

How “PC” was it? I was surprised that i had never heard the original history either and looked it up but I got whiffs from the storyline that they had tried to twist the story to suit current memes.


6 posted on 06/27/2016 4:47:14 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: ZinGirl

Movie is Hollywood fiction. It’s about a deserter who should have been shot. He was no hero. He also didn’t have a valid marriage to a former slave, as interracial marriages were against the law in the 19th Century. There’s a lot of Southern heroes to make a movie about. This deserter was not one of them.


7 posted on 06/27/2016 4:48:39 PM PDT by NKP_Vet (In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,stand like a rock ~ T, Jefferson)
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To: Skywise
The credits for research showed about 9 historians from various universities.

Not PC, IMHO. just factual. In fact, Gary Ross intersperses several real Civil War pix. In the scene where the Negros "vote" (there were 23 Republican votes... between Black/White...the official count for Republicans was 2)

8 posted on 06/27/2016 4:51:04 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ZinGirl

I saw it advertised a few times but there is no way I am going to watch it.

The History Channel has gotten really PC in the last few years. When I say PC I mean they make stuff up.


9 posted on 06/27/2016 4:51:28 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

If you’re a Civil War buff at all, I think you would like it very much. Gary Ross went through great effort to make sure all details were accurate...including some of the “not so nice” stuff.


10 posted on 06/27/2016 4:52:37 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ZinGirl

Blacks guilt makes more sense than white guilt:

“One study concluded that 28 percent of free blacks owned slaves, which is a far higher percentage than that of free whites who owned slaves.”

https://www.vice.com/read/hey-v12n5


11 posted on 06/27/2016 4:53:36 PM PDT by IChing (Nuke Mecca already)
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To: NKP_Vet
Did you see the movie or do some research?

He was not just "a deserter". Also, just because he didn't have a "valid marriage" is part of the point.

12 posted on 06/27/2016 4:55:02 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: yarddog
NOT going to see it because Hollywood and History Channel suck is a sucky reason. Hollywood and History Channel DO suck, but Gary Ross has spent over a decade researching and talking to the family about this. I believe one of Newton Knight's ancestors is an extra.

In any case, the fact that very few people will GO to this movie is a testimony, IMHO, that it is not a "Hollywood" movie.

13 posted on 06/27/2016 4:58:51 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ZinGirl

Was wondering about this film. Knew a little about the history, but never really deep into the story.

Good to see it isnt some weird politically slanted production.


14 posted on 06/27/2016 5:02:40 PM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I’m a buff my friends are buffs and none n 9f us ever heard of this. I’m dubious.


15 posted on 06/27/2016 5:03:31 PM PDT by major-pelham
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To: ZinGirl

You might want to read the reviews of Rudy Leverett’s University Press of Mississippi book ‘The Legend of the Free State of Jones’ to get another view of the ‘Legend’

https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Free-State-Jones-Leverett/dp/1604735716

an example:

Dr. Leverett was the first to publish a scholarly book documenting the history of Jones County, Mississippi before and during the American Civil War. In Legend of the Free State of Jones, Dr. Leverett showed conclusively that Jones County never seceded from the Confederacy and, moreover, that its residents remained loyal to the Confederacy during and after the Civil War. It is true, Leverett explains, that most Jones Countians opposed the political stance of Southern secession from the Union on the eve of the Civil War. The reason? “. . . Jones County was not part of the Old South of manor houses, river boats, privileged gentry and gracious living. On the other hand, the lives of the people in Jones County were probably far more typical of those of the ordinary Southerner of the times than were those of the plantation artistocrats. And, of course, it was the latter and not the former that went with the winds of the Civil War.” Legend at pp. 45-46.

Once invasion by the North seemed imminent, however, residents overwhelmingly aligned themselves with the Confederacy in opposition to the North.

Emblematic of the nuanced views of Jones County residents was Amos McLemore, a school teacher, Methodist-Episcopal minister and merchant whose Southern roots reached back into history nearly two hundred years. Like most of his fellow Jones Countians, McLemore opposed Southern secession from the Union in the months preceding the Civil War — this despite the fact that his business partner supported Southern secession. Nevertheless when war became a foregone conclusion, McLemore raised and commanded a company in the Confederate army, the Rosin Heels.

Major McLemore was later murdered by Confederate deserter Newt Knight, the purported leader of the alleged “Republic of Jones” of legend. McLemore had been temporarily dispatched back to Jones County from the front in order to round up deserters. Having learned of McLemore’s mission, Knight shot McLemore in the back as McLemore and others sat around fireplace at the home of State Representative Amos Deason in Ellisville. Leverett’s book presents evidence that, contrary to legend, Knight was in fact little more than an opportunist and criminal who likely volunteered for the Confederacy, then later deserted.


16 posted on 06/27/2016 5:04:16 PM PDT by Pelham (Obama, the most unAmerican President in history)
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To: VanDeKoik
I think in this day and age, this kind of movie had an uphill battle. It's not PC...it's just what happened.

It was originally slated to be released in March...then May...eventually June. Probs the uphill battle.

17 posted on 06/27/2016 5:04:33 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ZinGirl

I saw the film and some parts of it were very good, but it was very disjointed and didn’t ultimately make for a very compelling movie. They tried to cover too much ground. It probably should have been a mini-series.


18 posted on 06/27/2016 5:05:30 PM PDT by sam_whiskey (Peace through Strength)
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To: Pelham
Jones County's own website, today, says a lot of the same.

One must decide whether one wants to trust the "government" all the time.

19 posted on 06/27/2016 5:06:17 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: NKP_Vet

We certainly know your view point

It was a true story and the movie presented it fairly


20 posted on 06/27/2016 5:08:52 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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