On M List of Movie Reviews
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Mississippi Burning (1988)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
4/03, 8/04, 7/16, 1/20
7/16:
I've seen Mississippi Burning four times, and it's still a poorly directed picture.
The subject is fascinating, but Alan Parker has made it too mediocre to sustain my interest. It's the middle that needs to
be reduced by twenty minutes or be replaced with a gripping centerpiece scene.
The cycle goes like this: Gene Hackman acting like Popeye Doyle, Frances McDormand overplaying the tired
Fargo schtick, somebody's
house set on fire, and a troupe of silly men in white hoods who insist on beating the crap out of black people.
It's repeated four or five times before moving onto something substantive. By the time the film does, it's too late.
The story may appear true, but the names aren't real. Many facts have been either distorted or left out. So, why is that? Because
the actual truth is boring. And if I were the blacks, I would just fight back. What's there to lose? They're getting killed
anyway. Meanwhile, the FBI didn't come down there for the dead black Civil Rights activist. It was the death of two
whites that got their attention. As a matter of fact, the FBI didn't care an iota about the Civil Rights movement and was
never there for the blacks.
The story of how the three bodies were found wasn't known for a long time until recently. What happened is that the FBI hired
a reputed mobster to come down to Mississippi to employ illegal interrogation tactics. He stuck a gun into the mouth of a
Ku Klux Klan member, threatening to shoot him unless he blurted out the location of the bodies. At any rate, it's
probably for the best.
If there's anything I've learned from the movie, it's this: never visit Mississippi; don't stop...just drive on. Most people
agree Mississippi is one of the worst, if not the worst, states in the nation. It has the highest unemployment rate,
the highest poverty rate, the worst public education system, the highest rate of obesity, and the lowest life expectancy and is the least
safe state to live in. The same can be said for the rest of the South which is truly the armpit of the nation.
All in all, Mississippi Burning may be compelling, but it's fictional.
1/20:
Once again, Mississippi Burning is a poorly directed film that runs too long.
Had it been shorter, I would've felt compelled to give it a higher rating based on the strength of ensemble acting
performances. The story is good but highly dramatic which is based on the disappearance of three civil rights
workers: James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Let's be honest: if they were black, would the FBI have
done something? Of course not. In reality, the government including JFK and RFK didn't care about what was going on in the South
during the 60's.
All in all, Alan Parker should've taken lessons in how to direct before setting out because many of his movies haven't
been good.