Burden (2020) * * *

Directed by:  Andrew Heckler

Starring:  Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Tom Wilkinson, Andrea Riseborough, Usher Raymond

The opening moments of Burden chillingly pull a fast one on the audience.   A group of people, seemingly a family, renovate a small Southern town movie theater which was closed long ago.   "It's about time someone did something with that theater," a black town resident says.    When the overhaul is completed, it turns out the group is actually made up of KKK members and is opening a museum honoring the Ku Klux Klan.   This will not do, and local pastor David Kennedy (Whitaker) organizes daily non-violent protests of the museum, for obvious and legitimate reasons.

Burden tells the story of how one of the Klan members, Mike Burden (Hedlund) soon leaves the Klan and embarks on a journey toward renouncing his racist past with the help of his girlfriend Judy (Riseborough) and Rev. Kennedy, who takes Mike in when the Klan starts exercising its influence and has Mike evicted from his home.   The story has an inherent power, and that pulls the movie along even at it treads on uneven ground.    Mike's transformation is never a smooth one.   He feels the pull of his father-figure Klan leader Tom Griffin (Wilkinson), and is full of mistrust, confusion, and anger.    It is a tribute to Hedlund's performance that he is able to inhabit Mike fully as a man uncomfortable in his own skin.  He walks and moves as if he is trying to shed his exterior and reveal someone else underneath, and expresses himself more physically than verbally. 

Sometimes, Mike's racist attitudes rear their ugly head, and Judy and Rev. Kennedy try and stay the course.   Rev. Kennedy's family is rightly unnerved about having a Klan member, former or not, staying in their home.   To Rev. Kennedy, taking in Mike when he needs help is the prime example of putting God's teachings into action.    I enjoyed Whitaker's work here.   Rev. Kennedy isn't just a pious man, but a compassionate and courageous one who sticks strictly to non-violent teachings, believing they would prevail in the long run.   The question is:  Are others willing to be patient enough to see the big picture?   And how long would Tom let all of this go on without resorting to cruel violence himself? 

Burden tells a story we've seen before (American History X for example, in which Edward Norton's skinhead sees the light after spending three years in prison) and unlike the latter film, Burden is based on true events.    And let's not forget the power and conflict in Riseborough's Judy.   She loves Mike, but detests his past and strives to be the wedge between Mike and Tom.   She cannot abide by Mike being a Klan member, and slowly chips away at him until he decides he loves Judy more than racism and being part of the Klan.   The movie is predictable, sure, and we are uncomfortable watching some of its passages, but it's not an unworthy story to tell.