Sometimes It Makes You Mad; Sometimes You Just Want To Cry

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2015)

It's rare that you find a movie with so many sobering moments that stay with you when the movie's finished, but Mississippi Burning is full of those moments. Some are just sobering - like the shot of the two water fountains, one brand spanking new, marked "Whites" and one old and run down, marked "Coloreds." Some scenes are unsettling, with overly racist and obnoxious things being said - "niggers don't even take baths and they stink!" Some scenes are frightening - little children laughing and applauding along with their parents at Ku Klux Klan rallies. Then there's the violence - lynchings and beatings and murders of local blacks. This isn't a movie for the feint of heart. It isn't a "pleasant" movie at all, but it's certainly a powerful one.
It's loosely based on the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, and it revolves around the two FBI agents leading the investigation - Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Andersen (Gene Hackman). This was a powerful performance from both men. Hackman I expected that from, because I consistently like Gene Hackman's work, and he was nominated for an Oscar for this role. Dafoe I have had mixed reactions to over the years, but he was very good in this. Ward and Andersen are both FBI agents, but very different in their approach. Ward is a Northerner, and wants to do things by the book. Andersen is a southerner who knows that "by the book" won't cut it when dealing with racists and the Klan. Watching them work out their relationship is interesting.
There's a large number of secondary characters, all of whom have significant roles to play in the unfolding of the story. The most important of them is probably "Mrs. Pell" (played by Frances McDormand, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) - the wife of one of the sheriff's deputies implicated in the murders. Her Oscar nomination aside, I admit that I wasn't really taken with the character of Mrs. Pell and the implication of some type of friendship or relationship brewing with Andersen, although the scene in which her husband deals with his "problem at home" (as one of his good ole boy buddies called her) is brutal, and another of those scenes that stays with you.
The name of the movie refers to the name of the FBI investigation, although it's put to good use as there are repeated scenes throughout the movie of the burning of black churches and homes, with a few burning crosses thrown in as well. It is unsettling and at times unpleasant to watch, but it's also very good. (8/10)