MISSISSIPPI BURNING: STILL POWERFUL TODAY

At a time when racial tension is once again forming in this country this 1988 film seems as relevant today as it did when it was released. There are major differences in the unrest as seen here compared to what is going on now, mostly in that today’s unrest often feels more manufactured by the media than reality, but there is and almost certainly will remain pockets of discrimination that will be found in this country. As much as we have progressed for the majority here those isolated pockets will take center stage. In seeing a movie like this perhaps that will change one day as man’s inhumanity to man will finally be realized.

Based on a real life case, in the early 1960s three civil rights workers are brutally murdered by white bigots in Mississippi as the film opens. This draws the attention of the Department of Justice run by Robert Kennedy at the time who sends down a pair of FBI agents to investigate the disappearance of the three. As of yet their murder hasn’t been confirmed, only their status of missing persons.

The pair are an unlikely couple. Agent Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) is a young agent on the rise, a by the book follower who wants justice but only as the rules apply. Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) is the opposite. Raised in Mississippi he’s seen the real world, knows how things operate and is willing to do whatever it takes to catch the bad guys. With Alan in charge their methods collide for most of the picture but while Rupert angers at having to hold back he allows Alan to run things his way.

The result is a mess from start to finish. As Alan does things on the up and up his methods result in few results, no answers and more problems for the blacks already being persecuted in this town. Rupert tries to warn him but he refuses to listen, bringing in a near army of FBI agents to track down leads with little luck. As more and more blacks in the community are brutalized and churches burned down, Alan eventually realizes that the only way to accomplish the goals intended is to allow Rupert to proceed in his fashion.

There is one minor hole in the dam holding back the truth of what happened. The wife (Frances McDormand) of the town deputy (Brad Dourif) is an abused woman who finds herself trapped in a world she doesn’t approve of. Rupert slowly gains her trust in the hopes that she will do the right thing. But when you live in this world with little hope of ever leaving do you do that or just go with the flow? Hers is the only opportunity the FBI agents have as they come up against a local law enforcement group that is involved in the disappearance from the start. Without her the odds are not in their favor.

What makes this movie so explosive is the brutal depiction of what was actually going on at the time. While many would think that lynching and church burnings were things from a long ago past, the truth was they were happening during the sixties as well. That one person could consider doing the things members of the KKK did to fellow human beings is unthinkable and yet it happened. How anyone could consider someone lower than human simply because of the color of their skin never ceases to amaze me and this movie brings that to life in the most upsetting and nauseating way. While that may seem terrible (and it is) it is also something that needs to be seen, that young people need to witness so that they learn how despicable it was, so that it is never repeated again.

A movie like this is not something that one can describe as entertaining but it does hold your interest from start to finish. The performances of every single actor in this piece are something to behold but it is Hackman who takes center stage here offering a character that could have been cardboard cutout and making him seem real. His Rupert has seen the worst people have to offer, has gone down that road himself in an effort to find justice for those in need and yet at the same time has a tenderness to him as well that he allows to escape from time to time.

Twilight Time has once again provided the best available copy of this movie. Grainy in some scenes there are some who will wonder why never realizing that this was what movies looked like on screen then before the advent of digital technology and blu-ray discs. The Twilight Time edition also includes a commentary track with director Alan Parker, the original theatrical trailer and an isolated score track.

When people talk about movies it seems as if this one rarely gets mentioned these days. Perhaps that’s because the subject matter is too disturbing to raise. Maybe it’s because there is the hope that days like these are so far in the past they can never happen again. But there is always that possibility that somewhere the feelings deeply rooted in long held traditions could raise their head once more. For that reason this movie needs to be seen and talked about. It’s a movie that I can’t recommend highly enough.

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