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Mississippi Burning takes place in the 60s and there was a great lack of justice back then. White people judged the black people by the color of their skin and the police department was corrupt. Another theme in the movie could also be friendship, because of the main characters’, Ward and Anderson, development of their friendship. In the beginning of the movie it is not easy for them to work as a team, mainly because they are from different places and have different opinions on how to solve the case. Throughout the movie they get to know each other better and actually end up calling each other by their first name.
Allan Ward is the leader of the investigation. He is from the Northern states and therefore he does not know much about the racial problems in the South. He has a university education and is a young, handsome man. He wants to wants to follow bureau procedure. He changes a bit throughout the movie because of the situations he is put in. In the beginning of the movie he is in the front, but is a little bit in the background later on, because Rupert has inside knowledge, since he has been living in the South, and therefore knows how to talk to the black …show more content…
Three civil rights workers are killed and the two FBI agents, Ward and Anderson, are hired to investigate the disappearance of them, but they quickly learn that it is not only the disappearance of the three men that is the biggest problem in the Southern town of Mississippi. They find out that the sheriff’s office is linked to Ku Klux Klan. Agent Ward wants to continue with “bureau procedure”, but Anderson, who is well aware of the racial problems in the South, wants to do it in other ways. The local black community has a huge fear of Ku Klux Klan, and because of that, none of them wants to tell the agents anything. The agents begin to use new tactics, when they find out that just trying to talk will not get them anywhere. They kidnap the mayor and he tells everything about the killings. Though the agents cannot use this in court, it helps them move forward in the investigation. They con the KKK and after that, a member, Lester Cowens, talks. With evidence admissible in court, the FBI agents prosecute the criminals and they charge them with civil rights violence. Most of the criminals are found guilty and receives sentences from three to ten years. The sheriff is acquitted and the mayor hangs himself. The last scene sums up the movie. Blacks and whites sing together at a Sunday morning service.
The atmosphere changes throughout the movie, because the blacks get more rights, but it is very pressed and the movie shows how hard it was for black people to live a normal life. It also shows the relationship between the white and black inhabitants, which is almost non-existing, because the racism creates fear amongst the blacks. The racial conflict escalates when the FBI agents come to town. It turns into a conflict of getting justice instead of just the lack of
Allan Ward is the leader of the investigation. He is from the Northern states and therefore he does not know much about the racial problems in the South. He has a university education and is a young, handsome man. He wants to wants to follow bureau procedure. He changes a bit throughout the movie because of the situations he is put in. In the beginning of the movie he is in the front, but is a little bit in the background later on, because Rupert has inside knowledge, since he has been living in the South, and therefore knows how to talk to the black …show more content…
Three civil rights workers are killed and the two FBI agents, Ward and Anderson, are hired to investigate the disappearance of them, but they quickly learn that it is not only the disappearance of the three men that is the biggest problem in the Southern town of Mississippi. They find out that the sheriff’s office is linked to Ku Klux Klan. Agent Ward wants to continue with “bureau procedure”, but Anderson, who is well aware of the racial problems in the South, wants to do it in other ways. The local black community has a huge fear of Ku Klux Klan, and because of that, none of them wants to tell the agents anything. The agents begin to use new tactics, when they find out that just trying to talk will not get them anywhere. They kidnap the mayor and he tells everything about the killings. Though the agents cannot use this in court, it helps them move forward in the investigation. They con the KKK and after that, a member, Lester Cowens, talks. With evidence admissible in court, the FBI agents prosecute the criminals and they charge them with civil rights violence. Most of the criminals are found guilty and receives sentences from three to ten years. The sheriff is acquitted and the mayor hangs himself. The last scene sums up the movie. Blacks and whites sing together at a Sunday morning service.
The atmosphere changes throughout the movie, because the blacks get more rights, but it is very pressed and the movie shows how hard it was for black people to live a normal life. It also shows the relationship between the white and black inhabitants, which is almost non-existing, because the racism creates fear amongst the blacks. The racial conflict escalates when the FBI agents come to town. It turns into a conflict of getting justice instead of just the lack of