MUDBOUND screening
This gripping drama, about racial tensions and hardships in 1940s Mississippi, is “beautiful, complex and flawless,” critic Sandy Cohen writes for the Associated Press.
“A truthful tale from America’s not-so-distant past,” Leonard Maltin writes on leonardmaltin.com.
“[A] sobering reminder [that, even today,] there’s still much work to be done [to achieve racial justice and equity],” writes United Press International’s Fred Topel.
Set in the rural Mississippi Delta in 1946, just after World War II, “Mudbound,” by director Dee Rees, tells the story of two families, the McAllans, who are white, and the Jacksons, who are Black. Though segregated by race and social status, they are connected by the farmland they share.
Henry and Laura McAllan (Jason Clarke and Carey Mulligan), a white couple new to farming, struggle with the tough lifestyle. Laura especially finds life hard without electricity, indoor plumbing or easy access to medical care for her two children. She also has to live with her racist father-in-law, Pappy (Jonathan Banks).
Barely getting by, the McAllans reluctantly find they need to rely on Hap and Florence Jackson (Rob Morgan and Mary J. Blige), Black sharecroppers who, along with their ancestors, worked the land for generations.
The Jacksons are also struggling to build a better life for themselves, despite the harsh realities of Mississippi’s racist segregation. Hap repairs his family’s home and dreams of buying his own land. Florence juggles duties as a caregiver and a midwife, struggling to support her family and maintain her dignity despite the oppressive Jim Crow laws.
When the war ends, the families face new challenges. Their returning loved ones, combat veterans Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell), form a friendship that challenges the racist rules of the Jim Crow South. After seeing a different world as soldiers in Europe, neither man wants to accept Mississippi’s oppressive ways.
The 2017 film runs 2 hours 14 minutes and is rated R.
Its 36 critic and festival awards include the Audience Award at the Austin, Texas, and New Orleans film festivals, Best New Media Award by the African-American Film Critics Association and the Humanitas Prize by the Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute for a dramatic film that explores the human condition in a meaningful and nuanced way.
The film’s trailer can be found on YouTube at tinyurl.com/Mudbound-MoviesWithSpirit.
The screening will be followed by a discussion. Refreshments will be served.
Attendees over age 12 are asked to contribute $10 a person.
Movies With Spirit screenings comply with all federal, state and local health and safety protocols, including those of the screening venues.
The monthly Movies With Spirit series, organized by Gerry Harrington of Kingston, seeks to stimulate joy and wonder, inspire love and compassion, and help people understand their connection with others and with life itself. It supports all cultures, faiths and beliefs while sometimes transcending them.
The films are shown in diverse places of worship and culture in Ulster and Dutchess counties at 7 p.m., on the third Saturday of every month. Movies With Spirit has no religious affiliation.
