Mudbound

 

    Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees, is about the interaction of a non - colored family with a colored family taking place in the 1940s. It shows how people of color are still harshly discriminated against and that the world, even to a soldier coming home from war, doesn't change its ways. 

    The main theme of Mudbound is to show how in the 1940s, no matter what a colored person does, even if it is to protect their country, they will still be dismissed. The movie starts off by setting what is happening. They show soldiers going to war, many of them being white, but only a few being black. It also shows how a white family just bought a farm and has colored people working for them. They show how the white grandfather, Papi, treats the black family poorly. When the war ends, everyone comes home, including Ransel, the son of the colored family, and Jamie, the son of Papi. As they are coming home, Ransel goes to the store to surprise his family with flowers. He is expecting appreciation after he helped lead his country to win the war, but instead, he is treated poorly and realizes that nothing has changed, even if he risked his life for his country. When Jamie comes home, we expect him to be similar to Papi, but he is not. When Ransel and Jamie meet, they share their similarities by talking about the war. They understand that they both lost things and are able to connect in that way. The two of them become great friends, but at the end of the day, Papi comes and finds Ransel, making sure he is never able to talk again. The only symbol of hope in this film was Jamie and not even he could stop Papi and the rest of them from hurting Ransel. This goes to show that in this time period, nothing was fair and that people were treated poorly. 

There were some really cool film techniques and shots including some tilt shots. This was seen especially when flying the jets and having a fight in the air. It was really dramatic and the tilt shot really added to this scene. The music also played a huge part in the film because it helped add suspense to many scenes. This made the film a lot more interesting to watch. 

In this shot, we see the director use Mise en Scene in this shot. We see the latter coming out of the hole in the ground and the two brothers all muddy on the side helping each other out. There is not much to show in this scene because all that is shown behind them are parts of the farm and the sky. This is still a very cool shot to look at though because it shows the use of Mise en Scene as they are both digging a hole for their late dad. 

In this shot, the colored family is leaving the farm for good. The white man asked for assistance to help him bury his dad as he sees them leaving. He asks for the father's help and his two sons. Although they are leaving the farm and no longer have to help, especially after what happened to their son, the father gets down from his horse and helps. He tells him that his sons will not help. This is tough for the father to do as he must have a lot of anger inside building up, but he does not have the power to say NO. This is an example of the movie showing that nothing is fair. This movie is successful at conveying the message that nothing is fair and that people are treated poorly. They are able to show the harsh ways of living and that even though racism is over, it still feels like there is a much-needed change to make.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this film. It had a lot of suspenseful moments that made the film very interesting. I was always on my feet wondering what was going to happen next.