Recently, with my wife, I watched the 2011 film "The Help" which is a truly brilliant movie that I can only recommend wholeheartedly. That same movie also sparked my desire to dig up some other terrific films about civil rights, and then it doesn't take too long before you end up at Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning". Although nearly 30 years old now, this is still an immensely powerful and often shocking tale inspired by the real-life murders of 3 young activists by members of the Ku Klux Klan in a small Mississippian county in the spring of 1964. I'm European and there isn't too much known around here regarding the facts of this case, but I can easily imagine that turning this true crime case into a fairly large-scaled film production much have caused quite a bit of amok and controversy even 24 years later. Still, even though the references towards the so-called 'Mississippi civil right workers' murders' case are unmistakable, director Alan Parker primarily approaches the events from a more objective viewpoint by focusing on the FBI investigation. As the sudden disappearance of the 3 youngsters in rural Mississippi is considered alarming (perhaps because 2 of them are Caucasian…), the FBI sends two agents over to the Magnolia State. Alan Ward is a young graduate and ambitious city agent who strictly follows the protocol, whereas Rupert Anderson is a former Mississippi small county sheriff himself and uses more unorthodox methods to find out the things he want. Needless to say their styles and personalities often clash, but it's Anderson who makes the most progress in the case, especially when he develops a tender – almost poetic, in fact – relationship with the wife of the sadist deputy (and KKK-member) Clinton Pell. Admittedly, you could blame director Alan Parker and scriptwriter Chris Gerolmo their excessive overuse of stereotypes… All the FBI folks (except for Anderson) are uptight desk clerks with fancy suits, all the black people are mute victims, the women are docile and petrified wives and all the racist rednecks are ignorant and violent scumbags. Of course, just because the stereotypes are such opposites, the confrontations between them are extremely intense and atmospheric. The suspense literally mounts when the rednecks are relentlessly chasing an innocent black guy, or when Agent Anderson nonchalantly walks into the unofficial KKK clubhouse. Another reason why I personally don't mind the use of stereotypes is because it gives the fantastic cast the opportunity to showcase their talents. Awesomely talented guys like Michael Rooker, Brad Dourif and Pruit Taylor Vince are truly brilliant in depicting their vile and loathsome Southern redneck characters. But the greatest performance undeniably comes from Gene Hackman, as he almost naturally shapeshifts between hard-boiled law enforcer and tenderly comprehensive gentleman during his sequences with Frances McDormand. Another umpteenth brilliant performance from one of the greatest actors of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I'm not saying it's the worst out there but, I just think the movie needed to be shorten a little bit. I kept seeing rather boring bits so that caused me to skip much of the film.Anyways let's move onto something positive, I thought Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman were excellent at playing the FBI agents. I loved how Dafoe's character Agent Alan Ward was a sarcastic yet let's-get-onto-the point type of guy. He really is a charmer and I began to have a little crush on him right from the beginning. I know, totally weird, right?I even loved how Hackman made his character Agent Rupert Anderson, a really humorous guy. Well he is a legend so, we can't complain,right?It is a really dark film with seeing the abuse of the African Americans during the 1960s. It does make you glad that nowadays, we all accept one another!

Great movies are ones that give you a strong emotional response whether you can relate to the movie or not. From little things such as camera angles to costume to using lighting on someone's face in just the right way. However this movie is very violent and some people might not want to watch the harsh and brutal reality. This is what makes the movie come to life and for you to know what people went through, if they kept the violence out they wouldn't have got their point across as well as they did. I very much enjoyed this film and is one of the best I've seen The acting in this film was amazing and I think they made a good decision on picking the actors they did. They picked actors that somewhat look like the men from the real life story. They also picked actors by just looking at them they had a strong presence of hatred. I really liked the good cop bad cop aspect and having two FBI agents that have totally different styles. For example Anderson is very charming, easy to talk to and relaxed. You can even tell this by his costume, loose tie non ironed shirt and he does not often wear a suit jacket. On the other hand Ward is very serious and isn't friendly with his witnesses. His costume is very stiff, clean cut and always wears a part in his hair and a full suit jacket at all times. The only thing I think the makers of the film could have made better was the structure or the outcome of the story line. Right from the beginning you know what is going to happen by the end of the film. However it is an ending that can sit right with everyone. I think they took the safe route by not switching up the storyline just to make the viewers happy. If they were to make a not so predictable ending that would make the media talk more about the film. The best part of the film is the cinematography and lighting. For example using lighting from the bottom of the actors faces to make people look more evil and sinister. The director also did a lot of making certain characters more superior by filming the actor they want to have power in the scene up higher so they look in charge. Lastly they made the lighting darker for the very brutal parts such as killing to give it a creepy evil vibe while still keeping it appropriate to put in a film.Mississippi burning had its own type of music like building up (i.e. car chase) music that continues to get louder and more intense the more it goes on. Once something brutal and awful is happening there is soulful gospel music. Even when nothing is happening or no actor is saying there lines, if you listen close you can always here the noise of crickets in the background.In conclusion I would give this film 4 stars out of 5. The cinematography and lighting was amazing, same with the music and actors. However the storyline's outcome was to predicable and they could have made the outcome more shocking.

"Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught... At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it."Alan Parker's 1988 film which was nominated for seven Academy Awards is another reminder of what a great career Gene Hackman had, although this time he got to share the spotlight with a pair of other wonderful performances from Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand. The fact that Mississippi Burning isn't even considered one of Hackman's top ten most popular films just proves how many great films he's made over the span of five decades (he retired from acting in 2004). Since the film was loosely based on a real incident surrounding the disappearance of some civil rights workers in the south during the 60's many people complained that the film wasn't faithful to the story, but Parker never made such a claim and always said his film was a fictional tale of events that could've taken place during the time so I don't see any need to complain about it. Some similarities can be found with the classic film directed by Norman Jewison, In the Heat of the Night, which handles a similar theme about racism. Films like this are important reminders of how dangerous humans can be when they let hate and racism govern their hearts. It is so easy at times to forget those dark moments in our history and act like they never happened, but once in a while we get films like Mississippi Burning that remind us of the horrors of humanity and the sacrifice people made to end them. These are films with important messages which also happen to be well made and count with a stellar cast. Its only Oscar win was for Peter Biziou's wonderful cinematography, but there is so much more worth recommending about this classic from the 80's. The film introduces us to three civil rights workers as they are detained by a police vehicle while they were about to exit a small Mississippi town. The officers begin making all sorts of hateful remarks towards these men and violently shoot them for trying to stir up their quiet and organized segregated town. A few days later, two FBI agents show up in town looking for these disappeared citizens, who they fear have been murdered. Agent Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) is in charge of the operation despite his young age. His partner, Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman), is more experienced and is not afraid to speak his mind about him as someone he believes to be well educated but lacking more field work. Ward likes to do things by the books, but Anderson who was a former Sheriff in a similar Mississippi town knows the mentality of these places and believes his methods won't get them anywhere in a place like this. The Mayor (R. Lee Ermey) isn't pleased with the agents visit because he believes his segregation methods work and that things are run differently here than in the south. The agents learn it quickly while they're trying to collaborate with the local officers. Sheriff Ray Stuckey (Gaylord Sartain) is very protective of his boys, especially of Deputy Clinton (Brad Dourif) and officer Frank (Michael Rooker) who were the officers involved in the murder. It doesn't take the agents too long to realize what happened, but they can't find anyone in town who will speak to them since the victims have been threatened by the KKK. Every time someone seems to be interested in speaking up, they are immediately intimidated by the gang through violent acts. Ward's tactics don't seem to have an effect, but Anderson may have found the perfect ally in Mrs. Pell (Frances McDormand), the Deputy's wife who rejects his actions. The script handles the civil rights case with care and avoids falling into melodramatic territory by remaining gripping and suspenseful. There are plenty of thrills along the way and some violent scenes that are actually less horrifying than the hateful things these men say. It's true that the civil right theme is told through a white's man point of view, but I think it still remains compelling and well intentioned. In the end it becomes entirely a revenge action film, but it's handled in a convincing and realistic way. Hackman, Dafoe, and McDormand are in the center of the movie and they all deliver gripping performances playing off each other extremely well. Brad Dourif and Michael Rooker are given the stereotypical racist characters who are very easy to hate. Rooker seems to be playing the same character from The Walking Dead series only this time he actually acts upon his remarks more than simply being a loud mouth. Hackman and Dafoe are on the same side despite having very different approaches and that difference helps build the tension and relationships in the film. Parker's sensitive direction works in a film with such a controversial subject matter that could be easily manipulated. Mississippi Burning is a classic that shouldn't be missed by fans of Gene Hackman and his impressive career. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/