Mississippi Burning (1988)

Mississippi Burning is crime thriller that focuses on two different FBI agents, straight-laced agent Ward and easygoing agent Anderson, as they try to put their differences aside and work together to solve the mysterious disappearance of three civil rights workers in the Deep South.

Overall Review Score

5.5 out of 10

Review

Mississippi Burning is a 1988, 121-minute, crime thriller that focuses primarily on the relationship of two FBI agents with polar opposite views. While the film is loosely based on the FBI investigation into the murder of three civil rights workers: James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, by members of Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office and the local Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964, it devotes very little screen time to the actual murders, what happened and who was involved. Instead, it takes the audience on a whistle-stop tour of Mississippi’s swamp lands, towns, and country roads while occasionally interspersing this with dialogue, stereotypical characters, and an unnecessary love story sub-plot that distracts the audience from the murder investigation and causes the film to lose momentum and come across as a bland overtly fictionalised pseudo-documentary. Although while Mississippi Burning comes across as an overtly fictionalised story and uses stereotypes to elicit an emotional response from the audience, it does highlight the segregation of Black Americans in the American South during the 1960’s and the reasoning behind the Civil Rights movement that will appease some who are trying to understand America’s past. Overall, Mississippi Burning is a film that fails as a crime thriller but succeeds as an inadvertent cinematic explanation of the racist troubles that unfolded the American South that culminated in the Civil Rights movement. William Dafoe and Gene Hackman put on reasonably good performances but are let down by a weak script and poor supporting cast.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 5 out of 10

Comments:

Mississippi Burning utilises popular racial hatred evident during the 60’s and adopts this as an enticing context for a case of missing civil right workers. Aside from portraying some majorly stereotyped roles and occasionally having some one-dimensional characters that seem to only distract from the overall story, Mississippi Burning remains as a historic reminder of the past.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 6 out of 10

Comments:

Mississippi Burning attempts to use the pretext of the controversial Jim Crow Laws, that saw White Americans being given preferential treatment over Black Americans, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s to create a thriller. However, it comes across as an overtly fictionalised account of the troubles in the American South, creates overtly stereotypical characters ranging from the racist Police Deputy to the straight-laced FBI agent and from passive Black Americans to incoherent Civil Rights activists and lacks the momentum required to sustain its 121-minute run time. Overall, Mississippi Burning while emphasising why racism is wrong and equally the ridiculously stupid extent people will go to justify it – which will anger the audience – the film fails to deliver the twists and turns required of a thriller.

#crime #drama #mystery #genehackman #willemdafoe