Tropic Sprockets Goes Straming / Mudbound

By Ian Brockway

Dee Rees (Pariah) directs the immersive period drama “Mudbound” focusing on two families in WWII era Mississippi, one white, one black. With wonderful cinematography and striking details, the film profoundly shows the malevolent ugliness of racism and the endless human struggle that universally affects agrarian families, regardless of race.

Henry (Jason Clarke) buys a farm in a small town after being rejected renting a sprawling house.

The Jackson family are black sharecroppers with hopes of having a portion of land.

When Henry and his family move in they are formal and distantly polite but not kind. The grandfather (Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad) is vile in his hatred.

When his family is stricken with whooping cough, Henry insists upon Florence Jackson (Mary J. Blige) helping them in the capacity of a doctor.

He will not take no for an answer. After they are treated he then offers Florence a housekeeper position with no room for refusal.

The young Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell) goes to fight in the war along with Henry’s brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund). Jamie, a fighter pilot returns with PTSD and Ronsel comes back with the hope of giving his mother and family some joy.

When Ronsel leaves a store by the front entrance, Henry’s grandfather becomes disgusted but Ronsel stands his ground with a fine verbal quip, though he leaves through the back.

Then seeing Jamie having a PTSD attack, the two converse and discover their shared war experiences.

Though what follows is hard to watch it needs to be shown. Grandpa is a monster without a sliver of good and the events are jarring, depressing and visceral.

The acting is excellent. Although Blige and Mitchell are definitely the strongest, Carey Mulligan, and Rob Morgan as Mr. Jackson, strike with authenticity. Hedlund in particular is magnetic as the brother with very human impulses that are ignored.

The cinematography by Rachel Morrison deftly shows the earthy beauty of the American land with sad yet heroic accents of Walker Evans.

“Mudbound” makes for tough but necessary viewing. Its strong acting and vivid characters make it into an historical epic, a real-life Grand Guignol of good and evil.

This film is one of the Tropic’s Picks for the Pandemic. It is available for streaming on Netflix.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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