True Story Adds To ‘Ghosts’ Excitement

Before seeing the film “Ghosts of Mississippi” I had only faintly heard of civil rights leader Medgar Evars. This is nothing short of tragic, and this tragedy of ignorance is one of the many important, poignant issues set forth in this movie.

In 1963, at the time of President John F. Kennedy’s landmark civil rights speech, Evars was shot in the back getting out of his car when he arrived home. Evars’ death struck a chord deep in the black community, but the assassination barely made conversation at dinner tables in white homes.

Within a year of the murder, what seemed to be insurmountable evidence was gathered against Byron De La Beckwith, a well-known public figure - and a Ku Klux Klansman.

It was supposed to be an open-andshut case, but an all-male, all-white jury refused to convict the popular ‘Delay’ Beckwith. Two mistrials were declared, and the issue was all but forgotten.

Forgotten by everyone except the Evars family. At the time of the original trials, it was nearly impossible to convict a white man for killing a black man, but as Evars’ widow Myrlie (played by Whoopie Goldberg) hoped, times had changed.

In 1990, she confronted the Jackson, Miss., district attorney’s office with the idea of reopening the case against Beckwith. It would have never gotten a second thought if it hadn’t been for the immediate interest attorney Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) took in the case.

It took him more than a year to reassemble enough evidence to try Beckwith again, but with enough effort, he eventually built another nearly unbeatable case.

What is amazing about this movie is that the story is true. If it weren’t, it would just seem like another director’s idealistic vision of what the world should be like and never will be. Undeniably, however, this idealistic vision actually exists.

There is hardly a fault in “Ghosts of Mississippi.” There are a few characters whose Southern accents needed a little work, but their failings were easily made up for by the outstanding performance of always-spectacular James Woods.

Woods, who seems to have a penchant for portraying the meanest, most despicable men on Earth, plays accused murderer Beckwith and makes him just as villainous as any bad guy he’s played before. Woods makes you want Beckwith to either die or get busted, whichever is worse.

“Ghosts of Mississippi” makes an extremely strong statement for improved racial equality and understanding without preaching to the audience. At the same time, it shows the viewer how far our society has come and how far it still has to go.

Its strongest message, though, is that there is hope. For years, both blacks and whites have been saying the civil rights movement has gone as far as it could go, and some even think it is regressing. Well, this film would make anyone believe otherwise.

Grade: A