Ghosts of Mississippi | | Cast : | Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Whoopi Goldberg | | Director : | Rob Reiner | | Studio : | Castle Rock | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 20, 1996 | | DVD Released Date : | January 18, 2000 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 19, 2005 | | Summary | singing to the ghosts | Content
 | How many times have i heard the aphorism that justice is just us, meaning that justice is for the 'in group'. I had a lawyer, an expensive and successful lawyer tell me that juries were crapshoots and that since i was offered an alternative i ought to take it, even though i wanted to defend myself. For we all have the righteous indignation at justice denied.
This innate sense of justice is something we all seem to have, from the time our brothers get a little bit more than half of the candy bar, to the time we missed a B by just 1 point. When it comes to us, to our welfare, we have this developed sense of outrage, the sense of being unjustly accused.
But this childish sense of fairness, of dividing candy bars and slices of pie, of getting our fair share of whatever, is where most of our senses of justice stay, never growing, never really maturing to a stage of real justice, just kindof stunted. But it is a useful start and our jury system deeply relies on it and average common sense, despite the complexity and increasing technicality of the law and evidence. It is this innate sense of human justice that the movie builds on, and from what the authors desired for us to grow out of, to a more mature form.
His wife desired justice for him and his lost life, for his dreams that caused the bullet to fly, for the years his children lost their father and her his love.
Lots of people, not just the racist rightwing, but average, workaday people just want the evil of past days to go away, to get on with the rebuilding of a New South.
But a few, pitifully few, like the Asst. DA understand the higher definition of justice as more than a fair division of the spoils, a candy bar cut by one person and first choice to the other, more than material fairness. More than the personal, more than the selfish, more than the selfcentered me. The ADA grows into the role, he starts with a strong self identificationwith the victim, add to it the sense of the law developed as a lawyer and a good prosecutor. But something changed in the research, something was added to the mix, the racist murderer not just laughed at the law, not just flouted justice but he came to symbolize all the evil of the past that continued as remnants in the present. But he began to realize that ghosts need to be sung to sleep, and not just with the hymns to which armies marched, but with real songs of justice.
The Rwandan genocide trials, the South African committee on truth and reconciliation, the Serbian wartrials in the Hague. Why?
retribution? expiation of guilt? scapegoating? fixing the blame to absolve those who continue to do such things?
Justice needs a voice, the truth like debrising a wound hurts, but it cleanses. Why is this?
guilt, repentance, justice, payment, retribution, forgiveness. these are all loaded religious terms. but they are also terms for our social and legal system to use to right wrongs, exact punishment, and to set the record straight. The big reason is that if we can not trust the past to have been relatively just than we have no hope that if we are dragged to the bar that justice will be done then either.
This is the theme of the movie, the past failed many black victims of hate, of lynchings, of violence. Their names will never make it into books or movies, but a few, as examples of contrition, examples of a changing socio-political climate, examples of changing hearts, their names make it into our collective consciousnesses. These lend support to the hope that there is progress in racial relationships in this country, that the past can be with its ghosts- sung to sleep so that we can sleep at night without the Klan burning crosses down the block. Without police officers abusing their authority to murder, to profile -- driving while black, without the judges dealing out injustice and evil.
And that is the value of watching the movie. and the hope that justice left undone in this world will be rightfully applied in the next. which ought to leave us all a little concerned, for often we grabbed that larger piece, and not just as kids. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 09, 2002 | | Summary | The Fact of Racism | Content
| Growing up in a very sheltered and loving community I never really saw the effects of racism. When it was taught in school it always seemed like something from the distant past. This film really brought home the fact that racism is not as distant as I once believed. It is a scary thing to see adults who harvest so much hatred towards other human beings. This film was a real eye opener. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 24, 2001 | | Summary | five stars because it is so underrated | Content
| 'Ghosts of Mississippi' is a much, MUCH better film than a similar movie relaesed earlier in the same year called 'A Time to Kill'. Why the latter film did better at the box office is beyond me. First of all, Alec Baldwin has more acting talent in his pinky finger than the overhyped wooden plank we like to call Mathew Mcaughnahy has in his whole body. Second, Rob Reiner is a better director than Joel Schumacher. Third, but most important, this was a true story where the attorney was really white, rendering the movie less racially offensive than author John Grisham's ('A Time To Kill') vision of a world with only white male heroes. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 07, 2000 | | Summary | Great Movie | Content
| This is a great movie, I was so impressed. If you saw "A Time to Kill" and liked it, you'll like this one (which was, coincidentally, even made in the same year, set in the same state, set in the same time, with almost the same story)- maybe even better since it isn't ruined with the little "romance" of the movie as "A Time to Kill" was with Sandra Bullock. And it is realistic. Alec Baldwin does a great job acting in this movie. If you don't know anything about "Ghosts of Mississippi," "A Time to Kill," or are familiar with any of John Grisham's books, here's a little summary: 26 years prior, a white man killed Edgar Evans and got away with it. Now, Edgar Evans widowed wife comes to a (white) Mississippi lawyer for help in finally putting her husband's murderer in his place. He tries to uncover 26-year old evidence, dig up witnesses which most turn out to be dead or closed up, and encounters the racist murderer. He also deals with the other racists in Jackson, Mississippi. I enjoy this movie every time I see it. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 15, 1999 | | Summary | An excellent movie dealing with Civil Rights issues. | Content
| This is a movie that needs to be seen, much like "Saving Private Ryan" needed to be seen. It would open eyes to the harshness of the time and the idea that good can prevail. |
|
