Mississippi Burning
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Movie Reviews of Mississippi Burning
Movie Review: Gripping look at 1960s race relations
Summary: 4 Stars
Mississippi Burning captures the American South of the 1960s and its turbulent race relations by telling a story that, while technically fictional, is inspired by actual events that took place. It succeeds by all at once being gripping, emotional, and contemplative. Despite being made in 1988 and taking place in 1964, the film holds up to this day quite well.
The story begins with the murder of three young civil rights activists--two of them white and one of them black--in a small town in Mississippi. Two FBI agents are soon assigned to this as a missing persons case; these are, as they formally refer one another, Mr. Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Mr. Ward (Willem Dafoe). Ward is the younger of the two, and also the agent in charge of the case. The local law enforcement and the town in general is hesitant to accept these big shots from up north, and their views don't much change when Ward decides they need a lot more men, and that this is more than just a simple missing persons case.
The Ku Klux Klan factors prominently into the case, but Anderson and Ward don't have much means for proving that they had any involvement, let alone which members, if any, contributed to the crime. It doesn't help much that nobody in town seems to want to help out--white or black. The FBI men are a little surprised to see such segregation and bigotry still taking place, but trying to explain it to some of the people in town is like trying to sell a newspaper to a dog. Ward's by-the-book style of gathering information isn't exactly producing the results he had hoped, and as a last resort, he decides to allow Anderson to use his more unconventional ways to get some answers out of some suspects.
The film is filled with a veritable who's who of That Guys, actors whose faces you recognize, but whose names you don't always know: R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Dourif, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Michael Rooker, and Kevin Dunn. All of these men deliver consistently solid supporting work, as does the always-perfect Frances McDormand as the benevolent wife of a Klansman deputy.
Mississippi Burning, while a compelling thriller, drives for something deeper-seeded than a whodunit mystery. In fact, it pretty much gives away the mystery in the first scene. Instead, we get a study on race relations, and director Alan Parker explores the motivations and mentality of white people who persecute others based solely on the color of their skin. For some reason, these people have it burned into their minds that color of skin dictates social rank and intelligence, when nothing could be further from the truth. It would be nice to say that this sort of thinking has been abolished in our country, but that's still not the case. It has died down considerably, but it is not completely gone, and that's a real shame.
Movie Review: A powerful indictment of Democratic Party's past sins
Summary: 4 Stars
This film reminds us of the horrors that the Southern Democrats inflicted upon African Americans. As Wayne Perryman reminds us in his book, "Unfounded Loyalties", "One party and their abolitionist supporters believed the Bible instructed them to lay down their lives for the slaves, the other party and their supporters believed the Bible gave them the right to take the lives of blacks if they rebelled against being slaves.
"On the issue of slavery, one party and its supporters gave their lives to expand it (to Northern states) and the other party and their supporters gave their lives to ban it.
"One party was heavily influenced by the Abolitionists and the radical wing of their party ... and the other party was influenced by the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups.
"One party and its supporters started the Freedman's Bureau and other programs to help build communities for blacks, the other party and their supporters engaged in practices to hinder those efforts and to destroy those communities (Wilmington, North Carolina).
"One party and its supporters established quality schools and colleges for blacks, the other party and their supporters engaged in practices that attempted to close some of those schools or diminish their quality.
"One party passed laws and Constitutional Amendments (13th , 14th , 15th) to include blacks as part of mainstream society, the other party passed laws to exclude them from the mainstream (Jim Crow Laws and Black Codes). ..."
Sadly, many do not know that that "one party" was the Republican Party, while the "other party" was the Democratic Party. I myself didn't know at the time I watched this stirring film. I suppose burning crosses make us assume the bad guys are aligned with the religious right. Unfortunately, the "other party" used a nonsensical interpretation of the "curse of Ham" to justify slavery; fortunately, "one party" saw through it.
This film is also a great example of how history is being rewritten or dumbed down. While many films have shown lynchings and other abuse of African Americans, they usually leave you with the impression that the bigots were "Bible bashers" ... as you can see, this is only half the truth. Very rarely are we reminded that it was Republicans who laid their lives on the line to defend blacks, based on their Christian faith.
Willem Dafoe is, as always, fascinating to watch. His gesture of futility during Hackman's interrogation of a suspect is priceless. Perhaps the shameful past that the Democrats are trying to forget - indeed, most youngsters today do not need to forget, they haven't even been taught - will spur them onto greater deeds that may even outshine the "one party".
Movie Review: FBI romanticized ...but still great
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great movie on the grounds that Jim Crow Mississippi was a fascist state, where Blacks were subjected to second-class "citizenship" (or, as Malcolm X rightfully called "20th Century Slaves"). THAT historical viewpoint was correct. However, like nearly all Hollywood films depicting historical events (Like Nixon, JFK, Malcolm X, etc), the writers and directors can't help but to add Hollywood in the films. The way Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman died was way off. They weren't simply shot (as if THAT'S not bad enough), the three kids were dragged out the car, and beat with chains, pistol whipped, and the scum who carried out the murder made them beg for their lives...then shot them. This movie totally romanticized the role the FBI played in their forced "fight" against the Klan. When the FBI witnessed crimes, and police brutality, all they did was take notes, and did nothing else. Also, the Black people were so impersonal. Though the movie revolved around their treatment, they just stood in the background as impersonal objects. Don't get me wrong now; I think EVERYONE should see this movie. Just know that Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were not at all protected by the FBI, and that it took a mass movement for the government to finally cave in (or there REALLY would have been trouble in the streets) and pass a so-called "Civil Rights Bill" that took only 100 years to sign. The actors in the movie were excellent. Hackman was great. Dafoe was great. It made you mad, sad and happy. Definitely see the movie. Just don't take it as a historical reference. Watch Murder in Mississippi to find out the lives of the three, and what they did. Also, read Three Lives for Mississippi.
One last thing, I hope that SOB Edgar Ray Killen faces a death squad. In case you don't know, Killen was the one who orchestrated the murder of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, and was conviced exactly 41 years after the act committed on June 21st, 1964.
Anton Batey
Movie Review: Where does hatred come from?
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie makes some claim about being based on true events (the Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner murders of 1964) but essentially it's about racism, or more specifically the peculiar brand preached and practiced in the southern states at the time. Mississippi Burning succeeds not because it retells history or moralises, takes sides or casts judgments, but because its portrayal of this racism is deep and palpable. You can almost feel irrational hatred and bigotry glaring from the screen at times: the characters, while a little clichéd and mostly one-dimensional, are as you might expect them to have been.
The stand-out performance comes from Hackman as Anderson, the former Mississippi sheriff turned FBI investigator: a character of much greater complexity than any other in the film, Anderson has to confront his own upbringing, deal with the determined but pig-headedly officious Ward (Dafoe) and resist his natural urges to throttle confessions out of the murderers. He alternates from frivolous jokester, taking the investigation only half-seriously, to passionate and determined lawman, to shuffling and bashful schoolboy when in the presence of Mrs. Pell. I've never seen Hackman put in a bad performance and he outshines everyone else in this movie.
The film is nicely shot: the sets are prosaic, everyday types of places, the costumes are effective (FBI agents in stovepipe suits standout clumsily) and the screenplay is terrific, though lacking subtlety in places. If I had a criticism of Mississippi Burning it's that no black character is explored in much depth; the crusading is carried out by white northerners and the Negroes are just towed along behind the narrative, looking sad, oppressed and rather impotent. However that doesn't detract from the overall impact of what is a well-crafted piece of cinema.
Movie Review: Interesting story of pointless bigotry and hatred
Summary: 4 Stars
I remember seeing this movie back in high school in RE (that's Religious Education for you folks who didn't have the 'privilage' of going to a strict Catholic Fundamentalist school) and thinking it was a pretty good movie. Despite the fact that we were 14 and the film is rated 18 over here in the UK, which was totally illegal and would never be allowed now. The other thing I remember was Trevor Jones' really cool-sounding Ry Cooder inspired score.
Since this film was loosely based on the 1964 killings of 3 Civil Rights activists, one of whom only got sentenced a few days ago, 40 years after the crime, I thought it would be appropriate to check the film out again.
It's got a good story and is well acted, especially by Hackman, who is one of my fave actors (Dafoe is too but he's not in much these days). They play two FBI Agents, who don't get on (a popular cliché at the time), down in a backwoods southern town looking for three kids who have probably been killed by evil KKK members.
The villains are despicable and Brad Dourif once again uses his wild eyes to great effect. But I was a little disappointed that none of them really got what they deserved (even though in real life it took 40 years to get justice) and got let-off with minor sentences, none of them over 10 years for the brutal killing of three people and all the mass-destruction and arson they did.
I was let-down by the ending and really wanted more red-neck, dirt-faced, hicka-billies getting their heads kicked in. And, judging from the recent televised court-case, attitude towards African-American's hasn't changed much since then. Which is pathetic.
The DVD is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound. There are no features and a Special Edition would be welcome.