Starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Rob Morgan, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige and based on Hillary Jordan's novel, the film follows two Mississippi families, one white and one black, whose paths intertwine as their sons return home from WWII. Here's a synopsis:
Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm, a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not – charming and handsome, but he is haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, now battles the prejudice in the Jim Crow South.
In my review I called Rees' work on Mudbound "a masterful story of racial tension, post-war resentment, and social class that should catapult her into the upper echelon of directors on such weighty material." The narrative employed by Jordan, and adapted by Rees, is complex and unforgiving. It's a must-see and hopefully Netflix does not squander this opportunity. The film debuts on November 17th.
