Probably the best movie of the late 80s

Rating: 9/10 (26 June 2011)

Some would probably disagree with the sentence above and point to Rain Man or Born on the 4th of July in that category, and they were good but focused more on the stars then on the actual story. It's a funny coincidence that Tom Cruise was in both of them.
Mississippi Burning is a movie without star performances and simply focuses on telling the story. Granted, the real story about the actual event is heavily dramatized but it is really only to the benefit of the affect the movie has. There are superb performances of both Hackman, Dafoe and McDormand but they only service the story, which is rare in a Hollywood movie. No grand speeches about racial prejudices, just quiet observations.
Where it gets its points across more loudly is in the violence. Be warned, this is a disturbing movie and should not be seen by children. However, the violence is far from gratuitous. Some people on this posts have complained that the white people look like ignorant, violent bastards here and the black people look too noble. That may be true but think about it, would you really have seen this if the black people were as vicious as the whites. You have to have somebody to admire in a mainstream film. Just look at all the films from the 30s and 40s? Was that more to you liking than people portrayed here? I think that people who complain about the white characters here should really think about what they are seeing. This is a film that focuses on two white characters and it is made by a Brit, not a black person.