“Hatred isn’t something you’re born with. It gets taught. At school they said segregation was what it said in the Bible, Genesis 9 verse 27. At nine years of age you get told enough times, you believe it – you believe the hatred. You breathe it. You marry it.” These words are spoken by Mrs. Pell (Frances McDormand) the abused wife of the Deputy Sheriff of Jessup County, Mississippi – in the impactful and timely “Mississippi Burning” (1988.) The film was directed by Alan Parker who died on Friday. This artful and stylish director worked in a wide range of genres including musicals (“Fame,” “Pink Floyd – The Wall,” “Evita,” “The Commitments”), historical dramas (“Midnight Express,” “Angela’s Ashes”), divorce dramas (“Shoot the Moon”), and thrillers (“Angel Heart”). He was nominated twice for the Oscar for best director (“Midnight Express” and “Mississippi Burning”).
“Mississippi Burning” is loosely based on the 1964 murder investigation of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner – three civil rights activists who’d been working on the “Freedom Summer” campaign, organizing a voter registry for African Americans. When it was first released it came under criticism for fictionalizing the story – and also for the way it focused on the white characters – and not on the African American townsfolk. Parker responded in The New York Times, “the important thing is the heart of the truth, the spirit… I defend the right to change it in order to reach an audience who knows nothing about the realities and certainly don’t watch PBS documentaries.” I understand the reproach, but Parker’s focus is on portraying white supremacy and how we must confront our history of hatred and racism. Fictionalizing as he mentions gave him the freedom to make the film more of a thriller and more commercial. The unforgiving and lacerating message about the toxicity of bigotry is still heard loud and clear.
The opening shot is two symmetrical drinking fountains side by side – marked with the signs “White” and “Colored.” The white is on the left side of the screen. As the camera lingers, you notice that the fountain for African Americans has its water flowing – its sign is slightly askew. Then it cuts to cars at night and three activists being pulled over and shot at. FBI Agents Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) arrive in the fictional Jessup County to investigate. Rupert was a sheriff in Mississippi, understands the culture – and knows that their approach should be more nuanced. Alan – who leads the investigation – is less experienced and also very by the book. They are confronted by lack of cooperation from the local authorities who turn out to be heavily involved with the Ku Klux Klan. “We’ve got 5k African Americans who aren’t registered to vote and as far as far as we’re concerned they never will,” an official tells Rupert. The African American community is fearful and unwilling to speak up. Eventually Rupert and Alan understand that in order to get anywhere they’re going to have to find a compromise on their tactic. “For a moment there- it sounded like we were both on the same side,” Rupert tells Alan.
The film involves you in the sleuthing – and it’s a terrifically paced – edge of your seat experience. Rupert understands that he needs the cooperation of a key witness – the wife of the Deputy Sheriff – to destroy his alibi. The scenes between Hackman and McDormand are extraordinary. The town life is well detailed. The atmosphere of hatred is palpable in every frame – thus there’s great satisfaction when the guilty get their comeuppance. Parker – working with cinematographer Peter Biziou (who won the Academy Award) — shows some striking visuals – a cotton field and an African American in a chicken coop. Appropriately – there’s a lot of burning – crosses burning – in the film – and it’s all paradoxically captured, and beautifully diabolical. It’s a relevant film that is as urgent as ever.
Hackman – who was nominated for Best Actor delivers an unforgettable speech towards the beginning of the film.
“You know when I was a little boy, a negro farmer lived down the road named Monroe, and he was – I guess he was luckier than my daddy was. He bought himself a mule, and that was a big deal around town. My daddy hated that mule. His friends always kidded him about seeing Monroe out plowing with his new mule, and Monroe was going to rent another field now that he had a mule. One morning that mule showed up dead. They poisoned the water. After that, there was never any mention about that mule around my daddy. Just never came up. Once we were driving along, and we passed Monroe’s place, and we saw it was empty. He just packed up and left. I looked over at my daddy’s face, and I knew he’d done it. He saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me, and he said, if you ain’t better than a n&*% — who are you better than!”
Love,
Roger
Available to stream on Amazon Prime and to rent on iTunes, FandangoNOW, Redbox, AMC Theatres on Demand and Vudu.
Written by Chris Gerolmo
Directed by Alan Parker
Starring Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Gailard Sartain, Stephen Tobolowsky, Michael Rooker, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Badja Djola and Kevin Dunn
128 minutes
The Mississippi Burning
“In Mississippi, the center of the civil rights effort in 1964 was the Freedom Summer, in which committed activists and local residents encouraged African-Americans to register to vote—fewer than seven percent of those eligible were registered at the time. The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of civil rights groups, arranged the drive, and orientation for its registrars had begun in mid-June. Michael Schwerner, a 24-year-old social worker, had just started a job with with the Congress on Racial Equality in Mississippi and quickly came to the attention of local Klan members. He had been at the Freedom Summer training in Ohio and was returning to Mississippi with fellow activists Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. Their plan was to visit Mount Zion Church in Neshoba County, which had been burned by the Klan.
Arriving in Philadelphia, Mississippi on June 21, the three were arrested by Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, who charged Chaney with speeding and held the other two “for investigation.” Though the men were released from custody later that night and set off for their lodgings, they were followed out of town. They never made it to their destination. Even before that, their friends at COFO had become concerned. Schwerner’s travel plans indicated the three would arrive at their hotel that afternoon. When they missed 4 p.m. check-in, COFO began to try and track their whereabouts, calling around the county throughout the evening. By 10 p.m., around the time they were released, COFO still hadn’t heard from them and relayed their concerns to the local FBI and a Department of Justice representative who was in the area. At that point, though, nothing was known of the three or about what had happened. Without evidence to suspect foul play, there were no grounds yet for FBI involvement. But in this case, the ramifications were not just a local matter. The voting rights drive in Mississippi and its national implications were clearly on the radars of President Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who took great interest in civil rights matters. Although the FBI’s local agent had begun asking about the missing workers on June 22, the Justice Department wanted even more involvement and told the FBI to place additional agents on the case. By the next day, another 10 agents had been assigned to the case. The FBI received a tip about a burning station wagon seen in the woods off of Highway 21, about 13 miles northeast of Philadelphia—it was the men’s vehicle. Soon after the find, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was advising President Johnson on the case. With no remains found in the car, there was a slim hope that the three might still be found alive. President Johnson informed the Schwerner family and closely followed the FBI’s progress. The Mississippi Burning, or MIBURN, case quickly became one of the Bureau’s biggest investigations; FBI resources and personnel that moved into Mississippi that summer—including the opening of the new FBI field office in the state capitol—reflected the massive effort.” (fbi.gov)
Director Alan Parker Reflects on The Making of “Mississippi Burning”
“…My Assistant Director Aldric ‘La’Auli’ Porter is a Samoan Mormon. ‘La’Auli’, I believe, is Samoan for rock and that’s exactly what he was during those days of preparation and, indeed continued to be so throughout the shoot. Many of my crew would be made up of people I had worked with before. My editor, cinematographer, camera operator and sound recordist had all waded with me through the movie swamp many times before and, as I have often said, the identity of my films is as much theirs as mine. It was a secure feeling to know they’d be with me once more. I eagerly walked Peter Biziou, my cinematographer, and Mike Roberts, my camera operator around the many locations where we would be filming during our first five weeks – off loading onto them shots and scenes that had cluttered in my head these last few months and now hopefully would be cluttering up theirs. By now, Bob Colesberry and I had decided that we would use Lafayette in Alabama as our small town, but the bulk of our shooting would be in Mississippi. We flew to Alabama to walk the town’s streets and alleys once more for me to lay out the shots we would be needing. The Art Department could start work on putting the town back to how it would have been twenty four years ago. Back in Mississippi, Gene and Willem had arrived and I began rehearsing. This process, for me, is really more to familiarize ourselves with the problems ahead rather than working out the minutiae and nuance of performance and blocking. It’s more a time to read the script aloud and for all of us to ask as many questions of one another as is possible, so that there should be no surprises once that movie train pulls out of the station. This was our last week of sanity before the madness of filming begins. There was time even for one last social engagement as the Governor of Mississippi, Ray Mabus, had invited us to lunch. He was extremely gracious and encouraging, his concern being “the new Mississippi” — firm in the belief that if Mississippi had a chance at a future, it had to own up to its past.” (alanparker.com)
Parker on Casting “Mississippi Burning”
“…Back in New York our location offices had been set up and once again I seemed to be unpacking and setting up for the Gypsy life we filmmakers are forced to lead. As always, the production and art department expanded overnight and every day I seemed to be shaking hands with another new person. Juliet Taylor and Howard Feuer were my casting directors and the long process of casting was well underway. Gene Hackman had been set and one meeting with Willem Dafoe in Los Angeles was enough for me to know that he would be an excellent buttoned down ‘Ward’ to Hackman’s renegade ‘Anderson.’ Their chemistry together was all important, and the forward energy of our narrative was firmly placed on their shoulders. Although they are from very different backgrounds, both Gene and Willem had paid their dues as actors and, at the risk of lapsing into turgid hyperbole, working with the two of them proved to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience for me as a director. By the end of the year I had been able to incorporate two box folders full of notes into my final shooting script which I delivered to Orion on January 4h. My screenplay was fortunately liked by everyone (if not Gerolmo) and it was agreed by the Orion hierarchy for us to press on. Zollo and Gerolmo graciously stepped aside allowing Colesberry and I to get on with making the movie. By now, it was clear to everyone the film I wanted to make.”
“…At the Jackson Armoury we had arranged an ‘open call’ advertising on the radio and in local newspapers for anyone, who wanted to be in a movie. Nearly two thousand turned up and were dutifully photographed and ushered through the filtering process allowing me to read with as many people as possible. As always you hope to find someone special for a speaking part, (the “interviewees” in the film were all found this way), but mostly it enables the background extras to be sifted through, so that no-one appears in the film who I haven’t seen or approved—the theory being that there’s no such thing as a ‘crowd’ scene because at the end of a long lens, in close-up, any individual becomes a principal. The ‘open call’ process consequently enabled us to build up the most characterful and believable background for the film. The last month of preparation and the usual frenzy of last minute preparation and the thousand questions a director has to field. Each special effect to go through — from fire to rain—each period car and truck to be chosen; each costume, shirt and pair of boots to be checked; each prop — from a dog house to a broken picture frame to be looked at; each pistol and shotgun to be approved; each wallpaper sample and shop front to be selected; each three legged dog; arthritic cow and fetid pig to be considered; each stunt to be choreographed — and the shooting crew and actors hadn’t even arrived yet. For a director, undoubtedly the more answers you get right at this point the better the film will be. I don’t think there’s a director working who doesn’t realize that it’s a percentage game.” (alanparker.com)
Parker on Filming Locations in “Mississippi Burning”
“…By mid December Colesberry and I had managed to criss-cross, in dangerously small planes, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi visiting the many location possibilities offered up by the ever growing location department. By the time we eventually settled on our locations, we would have scouted over 300 small towns in eight states, and although I tried to keep my mind open in order to make a judgement on the best locations, deep down I felt that we has to be in Mississippi. The more time I spent there, looking and talking to the people, it was hard to imagine filming anywhere else. But undaunted, we continued to cast our net as wide as possible in order to exhaust all possibilities. When it comes to film locations, if you don’t look, you don’t find – and sometimes you have to keep looking just to realize that you’ve found it already. The small town we needed to create for the film was more difficult to find than I’d imagined. It had to be cinematically interesting — accurate to the period and place— but also geographically convenient for us to comfortably billet a crew of a hundred.
“…Finding the small town at the heart of our story, was still proving illusive. In all, the script now called for 62 different locations, many of which I had found close to the city of Jackson, Mississippi. In Canton, Mississippi, whilst suspiciously scouting the back streets, Colesberry and I were followed and stopped by the local Sheriff – an eery reminder of the beginnings of our story. At the side of the road, we pathetically and nervously offered our Directors’ Guild of America cards as proof of identity. Fortunately, the sheriff was a good deal more amenable then his counterparts, of 24 years ago in Neshoba County might have been. He was also black. Apart from casting in New York and Los Angeles, I was also casting in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Orlando, New Orleans, Raleigh and Nashville and gradually the “rogues’ gallery” that covered two walls of my office was beginning to take shape as the faces that looked down at me started to resemble the characters I had in my head and, more importantly, the characters from the 60’s photographs that completely covered the remaining walls. Colesberry had decided that if we couldn’t settle on our small town at this point he should base our operation out of Jackson, as I was determined to be in Mississippi, and he was confident that the major part of our filming could be effectively done from a striking distance from the city. Once more the backroom army moved to new production offices, this time to the Holiday Inn in downtown Jackson. Our location department had now grown so large they could have fielded their own football team, plus a sizable bench. Our most difficult search was for “disused churches”, or to be more accurate, disused churches that the owners had long abandoned and would be generous enough to let us burn down. Also we still had at least 30 of our 62 locations still to find.
Colesberry and I also met with Lanny McBride, a local music teacher, who was advising us on the gospel music used in the film. We spent many hours at Lanny’s church as her choir ran through many options she had suggested. I had seen many music teachers at work during “Fame,” and afterwards, but I never saw a better one than Lanny. At the end of one evening we all stood in a circle holding hands as one of the choir members led the group in prayer and prayed for “this director and producer and their film.” Neither Colesberry nor I were overly religious and would have made our goodbyes, but for being wrangled by the choir members — but it was difficult not to be touched by their sincerity (not to mention their optimism). Certainly, it’s the first time any of my films has ever had such an auspicious and reverent beginning.” (alanparker.com)
About Director Alan Parker
“Director, writer, producer Alan Parker, born Islington, London, February 14th, 1944, began his career in advertising as a copywriter and graduated to writing and directing commercials where in the late 60’s he was one of a small group of British directors who revolutionized world advertising. In 1980 he received the D&AD Gold President’s Award. In 1974, Parker directed the BBC Television film, “The Evacuees,” written by Jack Rosenthal, which won the International Emmy Award and a BAFTA Award for direction; the first of seven BAFTA awards Parker has personally received. Parker wrote and directed his first feature film, “Bugsy Malone,” in 1975. The film was a musical pastiche of 1920s gangster films with an entire cast of children. The film received eight British Academy Award nominations and five Awards. His second film was the controversial “Midnight Express” (1977) which won two Oscars and six Academy Award nominations, including one for Parker as Best Director. The film received six Golden Globe Awards and four awards from the British Film Academy. This was followed, in 1979, by “Fame,” a celebration of youth and the arts in New York which won two Academy Awards, six nominations, four Golden Globe nominations and was later adapted into a successful television series. In 1981 he directed his most personal film, the powerful family drama, “Shoot the Moon,” starring Diane Keaton and Albert Finney. In the same year he made the seminal “Pink Floyd – The Wall” the feature film adaptation of the phenomenally successful rock album, which has become a classic of the genre.
In 1984, Parker directed “Birdy” based on the William Wharton novel, starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine, which won the Grand Prix Special Du Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. No stranger to controversy, his next film, “Angel Heart,” written and directed by Parker in 1986 and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Lisa Bonet opened in the United States amidst a storm caused by the ‘X’ rating initially imposed on it by the MPAA. In 1988 he directed the Civil Rights drama, “Mississippi Burning,” starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Director for Parker and winning for Best Cinematography. Parker was also awarded the D.W. Griffith Award for directing by the National Board of Review. The film was nominated for five British Academy Awards, winning three. It also won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. In 1989 Parker wrote and directed “Come See the Paradise,” a family’s story set against the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, starring Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita. “The Commitments,” made in 1990, a story of a young Irish working- class soul band, was awarded a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Picture and won Parker the Best Director prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, as well as British Academy Awards for Editing, Screenplay, Director and Best Picture. In 1993, Parker wrote and directed the anarchic and satirical “The Road to Wellville” based on the novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle, and starring Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack and Dana Carvey. In 1996, Parker directed, wrote and produced “Evita” based on the successful stage show by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. The film won three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture. “Angela’s Ashes” based on the Pulitzer Prize winning, best selling memoir by Frank McCourt, was written and directed by Alan Parker in 1999, starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle. His most recent film, “The Life of David Gale,” a thriller set against the politics of capital punishment in the United States, starred Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney and was released in 2003. In all, his films have won nineteen BAFTA awards, ten Golden Globes and ten Oscars.