tabloid movie-making at its worst

Rating: 1/10 (8 December 2010)

Alan Parker's volatile attack on good ol' fashioned Southern racism is meant to be a controversial film, and it is, but for all the wrong reasons. The idea (one hopes) was to make a powerful, topical docudrama, but the result is an ugly, artificial, irresponsible exploitation of an actual civil rights crisis, condescending to blacks (condemning their treatment at their expense) and elevated out of all proportion by a false sense of prestige. This is true tabloid cinema, not far removed from one of Chuck Bronson's 'Death Wish' scenarios, with enough burnings, beatings and lynchings to satisfy even the most unrepentant redneck, and with the gall to suggest that the most effective answer to bigotry is to adopt attitudes and methods even more violent than those of the Klan. A first-rate cast is totally wasted by Chris Gerolmo's one-dimensional screenplay (and not for the first time: see 'Miles From Home'). If a film insists on asking questions like, "where does it come from, all this hatred?" the least it can do is attempt to provide a legitimate answer.