Mudbound (Dee Rees, 2017): USA

Reviewed by Juan Salcedo. Viewed at the 2017 AFI Film Festival.

Mudbound is the touching story of two families who are forced to work together despite their racial differences. Henry McAllen(Jason Clarke) starts the story off when he first meets Laura(Carey Mulligan) who find interest in each other and they soon start a family. Henry’s brother, Jamie(Garrett Hedlund) who goes off to fight as a World War II pilot, returns home to find that the Ronsel(Jason Mitchell) had also gone off to fight in World War II as a tank fighter. Ronsel is the son of the other tenants on the ranch.

The first half of the film is a bit slow and scattered although it works to introduce you to every character. There is a narration for nearly every character and throughout the first half of the film we immediately learn who we dislike and who we like. The narrative makes connections between the ones at war and the ones at home. By the end of the film you are left feeling empathetic for the protagonists because of the strong construction of the relationships and characters throughout the movie.

This movie will rock your socks yo.


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