Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  Rob Reiner

Starring:  Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods, Craig T. Nelson, Michael O'Keefe, Virginia Madsen, Diane Ladd, Bill Cobb, William H. Macy

Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was gunned down in his own driveway on June 12, 1963 by Byron de La Beckwith, who after two hung jury trials escaped justice until the case was reopened in the late 1980's.  In one of his early trials, former Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett openly walked into the courtroom and shook de la Beckwith's hand while Evers' widow Myrlie (Goldberg) was testifying on the witness stand.  

Ghosts of Mississippi tells of the long journey the Evers family took to finally claim some justice.   Yes, it was terrible that de la Beckwith (Woods) spent the bulk of his life a free man, but in the end he at least got what he deserved and he would later die in prison.    Myrlie pleads her case to have the trial reopened to Hinds County D.A. Ed Peters (Nelson) and assistant D.A. Bobby DeLaughter (Baldwin). They dismiss Myrlie out of hand at first, but after a bout with his conscience, DeLaughter agrees to reopen the case.   After a quarter of a century, reconstructing the case won't be easy.   Most of the evidence is lost.   Many of the witnesses are dead.   There is no court transcript, although that problem is rectified in a manner that is a tad hard to believe. 

Despite threats from de la Beckwith sympathizers, his marriage to his wife (Madsen) crumbling because she wishes he never took the case, and the mounting challenges of retrying de la Beckwith, DeLaughter presses on.   Ghosts of Mississippi operates more in the vein of a traditional courtroom procedural and thriller, and on those levels it works .   Standing above the other actors (who do fine work) with a bit more energy is James Woods (Oscar-nominated for this role), who infuses de la Beckwith with cockiness and an absence of humanity.   He isn't just a murderer and a racist, he clearly loves being both more than anything else on Earth.   The opening scenes capture the pre-Civil Rights Act Mississippi with a specific and potent outrage.  Byron de la Beckwith not only got off, his hometown threw him a parade.   I can't say for sure whether this actually occurred, but it wouldn't surprise me if it had.

Ghosts of Mississippi is mostly about making us a witness to de la Beckwith finally getting his just desserts.   He arrogantly never believed he would ever be convicted, as he illustrates in a scene in the courthouse bathroom with DeLaughter.    We are waiting for the verdict to come in and to celebrate long-deferred justice for Evers, who according to one character:  "Before Martin Luther King, Medgar was the civil rights movement."  Ghosts of Mississippi is painted in bold strokes, and that is just fine with us.