After A Tedious First Hour This Movie Finally Get Going

Rating: 5/10 (16 December 2017)

I have to admit that "Mudbound" almost lost me during its first hour. The story sounded good - an account of two farm families (one black, the Jacksons; one white, the McAllans) dealing with racism and various other challenges during and immediately after World War II. The McAllans owned the farm and the Jacksons were sharecroppers. But to be blunt that first hour or so was pretty dull. There didn't seem to be a great deal of tension between the two families. Yes, the Jacksons wanted off the farm - and the reality of the sharecropper system (that basically the sharecropper could never earn enough to pay off their debt so that they could never leave) was pointed out. But what we basically saw was the everyday life of the two families. There wasn't really any drama involved with it. The movie seemed to jump back and forth. Eventually, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and Ronsel Jackson and Jaime McAllan join up. Ronsel becomes a tank commander and Jaime a bomber pilot. So in addition to various scenes from the families' home life, we sometimes cut to war scenes. But none of it seemed well connected; the movie didn't seem to be going in any particular direction. It portrayed everyday life - at peace and at war - and everyday life just isn't really that exciting, I'm sad to say. It was rather tedious.
The movie does take a sudden turn for the better in the second half though. Ronsel and Jaime return home - and they're changed. The shared experience of war (even though they weren't together in Europe) has broken down a lot of barriers, and they become friends. But Ronsel - having experienced a more racially friendly atmosphere in Europe - has trouble adjusting to the racial realities of the American south, and Jaime just has trouble getting his feet back on to the ground, so to speak. He's traumatized by some of his war experiences, begins drinking - and over it all is his father, who is a completely unpleasant character; a racist who demeans Jaime's war experience. As Ronsel and Jaime become closer you know there's trouble coming, and eventually it arrives, and a movie that had been muddled and tedious all of a sudden becomes focused and riveting.
Ronsel is involved in a racist confrontation with Jaime's father almost immediately upon returning home. He might be returning home in uniform as a sergeant after serving his country, but in the south he's still a - well, insert the "n" word, which - be aware - is liberally (but appropriately given the historical setting) used in this movie. Everything leads to a very brutal scene involving the KKK (and an ultimate confrontation between Jaime and his father) but without giving much away let's just say that the KKK scene could have let the movie end on a very sombre note, but instead the movie ends on an incredibly beautiful and hopeful note.
"Mudbound" almost seems to be two completely different movies - one very good; the other - well, not so much. Throw them together and I have to give this a 5/10.