Mississippi Burning

On the other hand... Parker is given something good here, and he makes the most of it. It may be true that (as has been claimed) the picture distorts history to serve its own purposes, and yes, one may question the ethics endorsed in the film (wherein the FBI must adopt the despicable methods of the KKK in order to defeat them), but the fact is that this is a powerful, disturbing, and memorable picture, which, if nothing else, should be lauded for bringing questions of race and oppression to the forefront of the public mind. The driving force here is two great performances by Willem Dafoe and (especially) Gene Hackman as the two FBI men trying to reach across a philosophical divide in order to solve the case. Parker directs faultlessly, and, while the picture may not be great, it comes pretty close.