Review – Mississippi Burning

Of all the criticisms leveled at this movie, the one that sticks the hardest is that this is yet another case of Hollywood presenting the struggle for civil rights as a contest between white people. The role of people of color in this movie is to stoically suffer the psychotic cruelty of the Klan until the valiant FBI finally does something about it (so right there you’ve got historical accuracy issues as well). Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman star as an idealistic, by-the-book fed and his rogue partner. As the racist violence escalates, the good cop becomes more and more inclined to turn the bad cop loose to respond in kind. Thus Act Three is fairly emotionally satisfying, though as usual on the final tote board the good guys took more than they ultimately dished out. The picture sports a solid supporting cast and good production values. Just come prepared to leave angry. Mildly amusing