Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees (“Bessie”), is a post-Civil War story that once again deals with the issue that Hollywood refuses to let die: Racism. In a World War II-infused U.S. south, two families, the McCallans and the Jacksons, find themselves unexpectedly bound together through the land they share. Despite many differences in an area that refused to change its ways for a very long time, the unlikeliest of bonds and friendships were born and simultaneously destroyed.

The members of the families consist of the McCallan matriarch, Laura McCallan (Carey Mulligan, “Inside Llewyn Davis”), her husband Henry (Jason Clarke, “Everest”), Henry’s brother, Jamie (Garrett Hedlund, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”) who is a recently returned veteran captain; and Henry and Jamie’s old, crotchety and extremely racist father Pappy (Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”).

On the Jackson side of the estate, the primary force of center storytelling is patriarch Hap Jackson (Rob Morgan, “The Defenders”), along with his wife Florence (Mary J. Blige, “Strength of a Woman”). Their son, Ronsel (Jason Mitchell, “Kong: Skull Island), also a returned World War II veteran member of the Black Panthers.

Despite some amazing performances and extremely touching moments, “Mudbound” still does not feel it deserves the cinematic feel. It is deliberate pace and drastic overuse of character narrations make it feel more like a history documentary rather than a feature-length film. So much time is spent with each character and every single little thing about them makes the movie only interesting in parts, until the last 15 minutes when everything blows up and rushes ahead to its ending.

Rees definitely has a great eye for cinematography. There is a lot of exterior shots in this film, and it does not feel like a typical Netflix movie that is on a blank set. This feels real and in the moment, which is exactly what is needed when telling a story like this.

What is the most disappointing, however, is the fact that this is simply an issue that Hollywood refuses to let up on. So many movies in the last couple years, great movies too, have felt like unnecessary brutality stories that simply exist because Hollywood thinks it is an easy way to make people feel terrible about themselves. This one feels that way in particular because it is so slowly paced which ratchets up the tension and makes the ending feel disappointing.

Despite being Well crafted, this film plays out better as an audiobook than as a feature film. It has more unnecessary brutality that is needed to portray its message, but it matches it with some unexpected joyous moments as well, which spring particularly from the awkward friendship that is born between Ronsel and Jamie and their shared experiences in the war, despite the fact that the trailers made it look like there would be a lot more of that relationship in the movie.

This is certainly not Netflix’s best, but it is also not its worst. However, because it is Netflix, it most likely will not receive any Oscar awards because their movies still have yet to play for two weeks in theaters.

Image from Netflix via YouTube.com