An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Matthew McConaughey, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it was a really interesting story with some great potential but it turned out to be only a decent watch at best, I’m afraid. Basically, the biggest issue was the lack of depth concerning Newton Knight. Indeed, during the 1st half the guy was described as some of kind of Southern Robin Hood which was fairly entertaining. Unfortunately, it made him also some kind of mythological figure instead of an actual real human being which was rather boring. For example, what did he think before the Civil War? Did he already felt conflicted about how the black folks were treated or he didn’t care at all at the time? Following the same principle, later on, Newton Knight actually lived with 2 women (1 black, 1 white) which must have been a pretty big deal in the South at the time. In fact, even today, it would be actually quite scandalous because, after all, polygamy is not really popular. And, yet, it was handled in this movie as something rather trivial. Furthermore, it was also really interesting that they focused on what happened in the South in the years following the end of the war but they struggled to link Newton Knight with each important event linked to the emancipation of black people. As the result, the whole thing became just way too episodic. Finally, it is understandable that they tried to also add the struggles of his great-grandson which was also an interesting tale but this mix was just really awkward and never really worked. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a really interesting true tale and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.