REVIEW: GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996)
by Chris Webb copyright 1997
Cast: Alec Baldwin (Bobby De Laughter), Whoopi Goldberg (Myrlie Evers), James Woods (Byron De La Beckwith). Directed by Rob Reiner
"Ghosts of Mississippi" begins with a montage akin to very few other films. It is a movie with a purpose: we want Oscars. So, how to start a weak movie with high aspirations than to send up chilling images of the civil rights struggle in the United States with a gospel soundtrack. Very chilling, indeed.
Once you get to the meat of the movie though, it is hard not to notice the misguided storyline. I credit Rob Reiner, who said that he would never attempt to approach the story through the eyes of a black person, since he cannot portray those emotions as a white man. So, what we wind up with is a mildly entertaining, somewhat powerful, newsmagazine account of the trial lawyer who brings Medgar Evers' killer to justice after more than thirty years.
Alec Baldwin portrays Bobby DeLaughter (fresh off his deep Southerner in "Heaven's Prisoners") who, as a white man, undertook the unpopular task of imprisoning Byron De la Beckwith (James Woods) after he went free from numerous mistrials. We search for his reasoning to do this, since he is financially stable as a result of his father-in-law, a racist judge. Is it for poilitical aspirations or because it is the decent and right thing to do?
These are questions that Myrlie Evers (Whoopi Goldberg) seeks to have answered, as well. She doesn't trust Bobby as much as she trusts any white man, since those are the people who have let Beckwith run free for so long. Unfortunately, here is where Reiner loses the reins.
If he cannot make a movie about the black experience, he could at least make Myrlie a more central figure. Scenes between Goldberg and Baldwin are surprisingly intense, as we watch the progression from wariness to trust. Instead, the movie chooses to focus on Bobby's home life and the fact that his wife is as much of a racist as her father. She leaves him for a while, and Bobby makes a mistake while taking care of the kids alone. Instead of telling him that racism is out-an-out wrongdoing, he skirts the issue. This shows a fear to make a statement.
Maybe, now, its true, as Beckwith states, that "[y]ou'll never get a jury in the state of Mississippi to convict a white man for killing" a black man. Its because no white man, not even our heroes, can face up to the idea that racism is bad. So, Woods prevails in the end, even though his character is convicted. He remains the one memorable character in the movie, yet doesn't he always make his scenes great? His nomination was well earned.
I would have liked "Ghosts of Mississippi" to have been the Myrlie Evers story. It would have been more compelling and hit home much harder.
My grade: B-
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