loading...
Canwest News Service
Movie Review
Prom Night in Mississippi
Warning: Not classified. 90 minutes.
Grade: B+
Theatres, showtimes, B14
Real people make for real movies. And even though Webster himself would have a hard time defining "real" in this era of "non-fiction" programming, Prom Night in Mississippi goes a long way toward reclaiming the untainted spirit of an honest moment captured on film.
A yarn that began with an offer from Morgan Freeman back in 1997, Oakville-based filmmaker Paul Saltzman's feature takes us into the heart of the American South, where the small town of Charleston still holds a segregated prom.
When Freeman heard about the continuing tradition of intolerance, he offered to pay for the whole event, but didn't get an answer. A decade later, Freeman made the offer again — and this time, it was accepted by the student body, as well as the school board.
That's when Saltzman and the cameras take up residence in Charleston, interviewing anyone brave enough to reveal his or her soul.
The townsfolk in this tiny Mississippi berg are still steeped in the rhetoric of racial politics, and watching them articulate their world view on camera is both riveting and unrelentingly depressing.
Whether it's the story of a white dad struggling to accept his daughter's black boyfriend, or the fact that every person interviewed on film figured race was something people didn't talk about out loud, Prom Night in Mississippi gets skin deep — then plumbs the abyss of how and why we establish walls of difference.
The kids are by far the most articulate and forthcoming group of subjects.
Outside of school employees and local political types, there are few adult contributors to the dialogue, but one Saltzman finds is so genuine and poignant, he makes the whole movie.
The star is the dad struggling to accept his daughter's choice of suitors because he's the one who grew up with hate, and is forced to check it in the mirror every time he sees his own flesh and blood.
His kid is happy, and as a caring parent, he wants to be happy for her — but we can see the anguish. He worries about violence and his neighbours.
He looks like a complete redneck, but he's willing to take a hard look at his own truth, and that doesn't just make him human, it makes him downright heroic.
