Unsettling but excellently performed

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2016)

When a film is based on a true story, it can amplify its emotional effect significantly - think of classics like Attenborough's 'Gandhi', Spielberg's 'Schindler's List' and Lean's 'Lawrence of Arabia'. The tragic history behind Alan Parker's film makes an already dark tale into a deeply unsettling one. Parker has a great ability to evoke a sense of despair, having done so to great effect in the earlier films 'Midnight Express' and 'Angel Heart'. The credit isn't all Parker's, though: he had to have people convey his vision; the people he chose did so very effectively. The two leading actors, Willem Defoe and Gene Hackman, both have a knack for playing villains and menacing characters, and have played the antagonist in a superhero film. But that's pretty much where the similarities end for me. They come from different generations and play their best roles very differently, but if you first saw them in 'Mississippi Burning', you'd be forgiven for thinking that they were a long-standing film duo, like Lemmon and Matthau. Hackman and Defoe are accompanied by a range of highly talented actors, including Oscar winner Frances McDormand, the always enjoyable R. Lee Ermey, and two of the men we'd later find stirring trouble in 'The Walking Dead' – Pruitt Taylor Vince and Michael Rooker. Everyone involved in 'Mississippi Burning' plays their strengths effectively, ensuring that Alan Parker's dark historical drama isn't a film you're likely to forget.