Barely 20 years after the events depicted, director Alan Parker made a very courageous movie about the murder of civil rights workers in the Old South. The specific acts are fictionalized but there were so many sad, terrible real events that the authenticity is no problem. The fight by the powerful whites to keep their black neighbors down was often violent and always tragic and that is what Parker brings to life.
Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman star in Mississippi Burning as FBI agents sent in to investigate the disappearance of those three workers who were trying to set up a voter registration facility in some dinky dusty town. Dafoe, running the investigation is a young agent who is sure of his procedures while Hackman is a veteran who’d been the sherriff of a distant Mississippi county as a younger man; predictably, by the end, the two come to an understanding and Dafoe is not so sure of himself.
But Parker is an excellent director and while there are few surprises he has no problem bringing out powerful emotions and a quickening tempo that keep a viewer involved. Other actors who help him achieve this quality are Brad Dourif as an evil deputy, Frances McDormand as Dourif’s wife (who, catching Hackman’s eye, is the closest thing we get to a romantic subplot), Darius McCrary as a black teen who understands the reason for the fight and Pruitt Taylor Vince as a white coward (named Cowans).
The film won the 1989 Oscar for Best Cinematography (by Peter Biziou) and was nominated for six more: Best Picture, Hackman and McDormand for acting, Parker for directing and Best Film Editing and Best Sound. Can’t complain about losing Best Picture, Director and Actor to Rain Man (Barry Levinson for directing and Dustin Hoffman for acting).
definitely recommended
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