‘Mississippi Burning’ Probed at Berlin Fest

Playing in official competition at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, “Mississippi Burning” was received with respectful applause by an overflow crowd at the festival’s flagship Zoo-Palast theater.

The audience did laugh often when actor Gene Hackman, playing an FBI agent investigating the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, exchanged retorts with racist white locals, and some in the audience clapped during the violent scenes in which the FBI agent took revenge on white hoodlums.

At a press conference after the film’s European premiere, British director Alan Parker faced many of the questions and criticisms that had been expressed about “Mississippi Burning” in the United States. Some West German critics asked why Parker chose to tell his story through the eyes of FBI agents instead of civil rights workers. A black American film critic from Mississippi questioned Parker’s reshaping of events from the 1960s for dramatic purpose, insisting: “I’m interested in the accurate portrayal of history. My history.”

Parker held his temper throughout the questioning. “If you can’t hear that the loudest voice in the film is black,” he said, “you’re deaf. It’s very clear to me.”

As for using white FBI agents as his protagonists, Parker said, “It’s a device using these two people.” Holding up a glass of water, he continued, “I could use this glass to tell the story. The device isn’t important. It’s the ideas.”

Parker was asked if he had changed his feelings about “Mississippi Burning” after some of the negative reactions. “When I first made the film, I felt proud. I still feel proud,” he said, adding: “If you try to make a political film, it is never political enough for some people.”

Parker explained that “polemical films are rare” and that “Mississippi Burning” was succeeding because so many people discussed it. He suggested that West Berliners go to the festival’s favorite after-hour spot and continue the discussion. “If you sit in the Paris Bar and argue about my film, that’s all I can ask.”