Hollywood doesn't particularly like controversy. They are, after all, in the business of making money.

And usually, the best way to do that is to make their audiences feel not angry, or conflicted but well good.

Every once in a while however Hollywood has the courage to tackle a difficult subject and perhaps

no topic in the United States is more explosive than race.

Mississippi Burning, directed by Alan Parker, and starring Gene Hackman, Willem Defoe, Brad Deref, and the amazing Francis McDormen takes an unflinching, frightening, and

very personal look at the fictionalized murder of three civil rights activists in the heart of the segregated South.

This is obviously a difficult and complicated topic made more explosive by the fact that the controversy

surrounding the film is almost as contentious as the issues addressed

in the film itself.

As always on the cinnophiles, we don't ever want to shy away from difficult topics, and we couldn't have asked for a better partner on

this exploration than screenwriter David McKenna who has made a career taking

unflinching looks at controversial topics in films such as Blow and the

groundbreaking American History X. This is a fantastic conversation and we were

incredibly honored to have David on the show. So if you haven't

seen this film, we highly recommend a visit to our website cinnophiles.net, where you can buy or

stream Mississippi Burning along with every other film we've ever reviewed.

And if you happen to support the show on Patreon.com slash the Cinephiles, right now you could

be listening to a Cinephile short on show stealing supporting actors including

Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday from Tombstone.

And one more thing.

You might have noticed that the year 2020 is coming to an end, thank God,

which means a whole new year of movies has opened up for our discussion.

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