In June 1964 when three civil rights workers went missing in Mississippi, the F.B.I. launched a major investigation code named “MIBURN” (short for “Mississippi Burning”).

Alan Parkers powerful film is a semi-fictional account of the events that took place in the deep south that summer.

Arriving in the town of Jessup County, Agents Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) are unaware they will soon be investigating a triple homicide. Frustrated in their attempt to gather information from the townspeople and met with hostility from a Sheriffs department with connections to the Ku Klux Klan, the two lawmen are increasingly at odds with each other over the direction they take to solve the case. Anderson, a former Mississippi sheriff, is unorthodox and willing to bend or even break the rules. Ward is younger, Harvard educated and a product of the Kennedy era, a strictly by-the-book man.

Both lead actors are excellent. Hackman brings the intensity of his breakthrough role playing Popeye Doyle in ‘The French Connection’ to Anderson but with a touch of compassion and humour. Dafoe is equally convincing as Ward, willing to use the full force of the law and leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice.

At the heart of the film is Frances McDormands fine understated portrayal of Mrs Pell. Hers is the conscience that finally says no more and confides vital information to Anderson about her racist, bullying husband, Deputy Sheriff Pell (Brad Dourif).

Controversy surrounding the pictures historical accuracy almost certainly had an affect at the Academy Awards with Peter Biziou’s Oscar for best cinematography being its one win from seven nominations. Alan Parker responded to the criticism by saying his film was "fiction in the same way that Platoon and Apocalypse Now are fictions of the Vietnam War. But the important thing is the heart of the truth, the spirit ... I defend the right to change it in order to reach an audience who knows nothing about the realities and certainly don't watch PBS documentaries”.

Unflinching in its depiction of racial hatred and segregation, ‘Mississippi Burning’ is also a brilliantly constructed crime thriller. Arguably, Alan Parkers best film and a damning indictment on a dark chapter in American history.