What is wrong with these people?

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2009)

James Chaney, Andy Goodman and Mickey Schwener were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi 1964. Their disappearance and subsequent murder sparked off one of the biggest FBI manhunts in history, and led to the conviction of several high profile Klan members.
This is an interpretation of those events...
Make no bones about it, Mississippi Burning is an emotionally sapping piece of film, the vile and despicable theme at its core should sicken anyone with an ounce of decency in their respective make up. What stops the film being the masterpiece of importance it should have been, is that director Alan Parker gives way to over fictionalising the already harsh facts of the case. In the process, choosing to stereotype both parties and sidestepping equality issues in favour of an FBI uneasy alliance, and a god forsaken romantic sub-plot! It's such a shame that Parker and his backers obviously lost sight of the reason they picked the project to film in the first place.
So what are we left with? Well it's still one hell of a film for sure. The harshness and emotional impact is evident as the story unfolds, the troubled South vividly brought to life in a sea of burning crosses and segregated restaurants, with Peter Biziou's Academy Award winning cinematography an essential extra character in the piece. The cast is almost to die for, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe take the lead roles as our feuding, at odds, FBI investigators, Popeye Doyle meets Sgt Elias anyone? But its with the supporting cast that Mississippi Burning becomes an essential watch for fans of actors. Rolling off the tongue like a who's who of weasel character actors is Michael Rooker, Brad Douriff, R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, with FBI support coming from Tobin Bell and Kevin Dunn. Frances McDormand does fine with a caricature written part, whilst fans of Biloxi Blues {me} will delight in seeing the wonderfully named Park Overall laying on her hussy act in the beauty salon.
At times shattering, at others frustrating, Mississippi Burning sadly only scratches the surface of the topic to hand, but for sure the movie world is all the more better for films like this, so in that it becomes an essential watch, so see it if you haven't already. 8/10