A review of "Mississippi Burning"

Did you like the movie? Why or why not?

I did not really enjoy movie's series of events, but I did think that the plot and cinematography was rather interesting. However, before going into these details, I would like to summarise the movie to refresh our memories, or enlighten those who did not watch the movie.

Three Civil Rights activists have been missing for a few weeks and are believed to be killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Anderson and Ward, and have different personalities and methods, have been sent to investigate and decide to call in a hundred other agents to look for the bodies. This results in the Ku Klux Klan burning down the churches of the Negroes, and beating up the Negroes as well. Anderson and Ward manage to convince the Negroes to bring the three arsonists to court, but the Judge releases them and they burn down more churches and even hang one of the persecutors. In the end, Anderson and Ward manage to arrest the Ku Klux Klan, made up mostly of the city Sheriff, even thought the head Sheriff manages to escape imprisonment.

As you read this, you probably have a few questions. The FBI agents already know who were in the Ku Klux Klan since the middle of the story, so why did they not arrest them sooner? What was different in the middle of the movie and toward the end of the movie? If you ask me, I would say that I have not the slightest clue, and that I only have a general idea of what the movie was about. Perhaps it was not the series of events that was confusing, but instead, the heavy American accent that was used. As I was not that used to such a heavy American accent, and because the level of the accent kept changing from person to person, I did not truly understand what was happening and thus, could not truly appreciate the movie.

I shall now move on to why I think the plot and cinematography was interesting. The plot is rather interesting because instead of telling to the audience outright who was in the Ku Klux Klan, the audience was supposed to infer from the actions and behaviours of the individuals. An interesting about the cinematography was the comparing and contrasting of scenes. For example, there was a scene at night where the Ku Klux Klan beat up several Negroes. This was contrasted near the end with a scene at night of Negroes chasing after the Ku Klux Klan. Another rather interesting feature of the movie was the motif of something being burned. There were at least four scenes of houses and churches being burned down, as well as two scenes of a cross burning. This was probably meant to emphasise the destruction caused by the Ku Klux Klan, and the burning cross could also signify that the Ku Klux Klan were betraying the God they believed in as both parties probably believed in the same God yet one burned the other's church.