Friendship Bound In Mud

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2018)

Mudbound, in short, is the story of two men, strangers from the same small Mississippi town, who return from WWII and find that things haven't changed much since they left.
Still interested? Read on. Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) is black, and a former Army sergeant who fought under General Patton on the front lines. Ronsel was respected, not only by his fellow soldiers but by the various communities in Europe he helped liberate. Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) is white, and a former captain in the Air Force who flew bombing missions over Germany. He too was respected by nearly everyone, but his own Pappy (Jonathan Banks), your typical racist, crusty old man.
Post war, Ronsel and Jamie return to a poor, muddy community they called home prior to WWII. Ronsel goes back to living with his mid-wife mother, Florence (Mary J. Blige), his father, Hap (Rob Morgan), and his brothers and sisters. Hap farms the land he lives on, and rents from, Jamie's brother, Henry (Jason Clarke). Jamie moves in with his brother Henry, his wife Laura (Carey Mulligan) and the racist old b****r, Pappy.
Ronsel and Jamie, though strangers before and during the war, eventually meet (as strangers in a small town usually do) and bond over their mutual military background. Raised by a racist father, Jamie is anything but and is willing to risk breaking rules and laws to protect his new friend Ronsel. As the two men soon find out, war heroes or not, their friendship is not welcome in 1945 Mississippi.
Mudbound, IMHO, is about a lot more than just what I wrote above but I really don't want to rehash everything everyone has already said. I'm not a critic, I'm just a fan of movies. I like that it is told from the perspective of more than one person. I like that the oppressed fight back. I like that I felt anger, happiness and sadness in all the right places, that's what a good movie is supposed to do to the viewer. I like that it's not predictable, even up to the very end I was surprised.
I like the cinematography. It's beautifully shot, something that's quite difficult when one's set is hatred, poverty and despair. I like that Rachel Morrison is responsible for that and she's being recognized by an Academy that has always ignored female DP's. I like the script (based on a novel), and the directing. This movie is watchable more than once.