Review of Mississippi Burning (1988) by Jake H — 24 May 2013

Well acted but could be a lot better.

Brit director Alan Parker's 1988 film Mississippi Burning is the dramatization of a 1964 criminal case where three civil rights workers were killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) are the FBI agents sent to investigate. Anderson is a more traditional, older agent who believed that in order to catch the scum, you had to sink to their level. His partner Ward was the complete opposite, young and played by the book. The pair soon realise what they are up against in the south.

Although based on a true case, it couldn't be more of a mainstream film. In the true Hollywood style the two agents assigned to the case are completely different, and nothing like the agents actually in charge of the case. Furthermore, Mississippi Burning chooses only to portray the white in the south as rednecks, which resulted in white southerners claiming the film to be prejudice. However, the worst part all of this for me is how Parker doesn't even attempt to show the effect the KKK had from a black perspective. For a large portion the blacks are seen as silent victims and nothing else, mostly only present for the most violent scenes.

After saying all of this though, some of the scenes where visually exceptional. The scene which involves the terrorisation of a black church by the Klan is extremely powerful, and also the sub-plot involving Mrs. Pell (Frances McDormand), the wife of a Klan member who is regularly beaten, is at times simply horrific.

Acting throughout the film was overall excellent, with both Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand receiving Oscar nominations. A good visual and stylistic film, but content-wise it is just wrong.

J.Henderson.

5.5/10.