Worn by the legendary Willem Dafoe, Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand, Mississippi Burning is available until July 31 on UniversCiné. The opportunity to rediscover this cult film, awarded at the Oscars and rated 4.2 by AlloCiné viewers.
June 1964. Three activists from a civil rights committee mysteriously disappear in the state of Mississippi. Two FBI agents, Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman), with opposite but complementary methods, are in charge of the investigation.
Very quickly, their investigations are disturbing and violence against a background of racism then breaks out in this city where the Ku Klux Klan stirs up hatred…
Copyright 1988 Orion Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved
A terrifying thriller… yet based on a very real news item
Mississippi Burning has something to give cold sweats. By its night scenes, first, where the acts of intimidation on the two policemen are more and more strong as the film progresses.
From suspicious car tails to gun attacks, the threat grows ever greater and contributes to building a truly stifling tension. Because the investigators targeted, camped by two legendary actors at the top of their game, disturb in this clearly hostile environment where they are not welcome.
Copyright 1988 Orion Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved
But the incredible tour de force of director Alan Parker (Midnight Express, The Life of David Gale) is to awaken terror in broad daylight, in plain sight and in plain sight.
A well-known small group in Jessup County, the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan is firmly involved in everyone’s life, even in the political sphere. It was impossible for the two officers to hide in broad daylight, and the looks of the inhabitants say a lot about their ideas.
The viewer therefore finds himself immersed in the crushing daily life of Ward and Anderson, where the threat seems to stalk them day and night. But this daily life is only a meager glimpse of that, very real, of African-Americans.
Copyright 1988 Orion Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved
Far from being a simple dystopian fiction with vaguely horrifying accents, Mississippi Burning reflects a reality firmly rooted in the history of the United States. The disappearance of the three civil rights activists indeed took place in 1964, and resonates like a ghostly echo of contemporary events.
As horrifying as it is political, breathtaking as it is instructive, Mississippi Burning was awarded for his superb cinematography and nominated in seven categories at the 1989 Oscars.
A black pearl, to be found on UniversCiné from July 8.