Chris Knipp Writing: Movies, Politics, Art


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PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 10:13 am 
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Documentary of key fight against southern racism is still relevant 50 years later

The veteran African-American documentarian Stanley Nelson here reviews Mississippi, summer of 1964, a crucial moment in the civil rights movement. Mississippi had more blacks and fewer by far allowed to vote than any other southern state, so it was seen by rights activists as a tipping point. An invasion of upwards of a thousand black and white college students came, more white than black, organized by the black Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee seeking to register blacks to vote. But Mississippi was a state so violent and so racist it didn't need the Ku Klux Klan ("bad publicity"). The segregationist Citizens' Councils did the job, running city governments and police departments. Blacks were humiliated and intimidated constantly. Voting "literary tests" arbitrarily imposed by racist poll bosses, prevailed. SNCC organizers knew ths state was a tinderbox, but the young student idealists came in unaware -- though three whites disappeared right away and later were found dead. Nonetheless the segregationist monolith was dealt a significant blow by the ten-week northern invasion, while those who came for this time were changed forever and the local black people they worked with were given a big injection of hope and confidence, this film shows.

Nelson's review, a mix of current interviews with participants, archival footage, and well used and often remarkable still photographs, to be aired on PBS in June 2014, is a powerful reminder of these important events. And it's more than that. It's particularly relevant given the evens of recent years, since there is a new widespread effort once again, at this 50th anniversary, to disenfranchise black, poor, and minority voters in the South, not to mention elsewhere in the US.

The eye-opener is to see the extent and the variety, not to mention the cruelty of the white intimidation methods used to keep blacks from voting in Mississippi. SNCC had seen that nationwide attention was needed to expose this, and bringing in the youths and especially the white students was the way. When they came, police forces were hugely beefed up; the Klan resurged dramatically in s statewide Kristallnacht of cross-burnings. The supremacists knew the SNCC-organized invasion was coming and were ready for it. Right away James Chaney (a black CORE activist from Mississippi), CORE organizer Michael Schwerner, and summer volunteer Andrew Goodman were arrested by a cop who was a Klan member, then released and chased and killed by the Klan. From this horrific act, it was clear from the start of Freedom Summer that the predominance of whites in the student volunteer group was not going to make anybody safer. Four rights workers were killed, at least three blacks murdered, 80 workers beaten, over a thousand arrested, 37 churches bombed or burned, 30 black businesses or houses destroyed. The white volunteers had to stay with black families; no place else was safe. The experience was a powerful one on both sides. Would a powerful campaign for racial justice like this be any safer now than it was then?

SNCC's "Freedom Summer" plan, begun early in that year, was a three-pronged program: voter registration; Freedom schools to teach black kids African-American history and pride; organizing of the Freedom Democratic Party. The schools met with enthusiasm, and planted a great seed of hope. Adults as well as children showed up at the schools, run in black churches (doubtless why so many churches were burned by white racists). Particularly moving here is the film's coverage of the finding of the murdered men's bodies, the memorial services, and the mass meetings in black churches attended by blacks and whites that continually took place. Subtly, using a blend of still photos, gospel music, and voiceover, Nelson weaves a dramatic climax as moving as any fiction. Surprise fact: Lyndon Johnson opposed the seating of the rival integrated Freedom Democratic Party delegation to replace the all-white one at the Atlantic City Democratic National Convention, and almost had a nervous breakdown, convinced that such a disruption would upset his nomination in favor of Robert Kennedy's. He brought allhis formidable manipulative powers to bear to prevent this unseating of the all-white Mississippi delegation, and the proud black delegates refused a brutal compromise of getting just two members and instead all went home. Most colorful figure: the fiery Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi black sharecropper who'd been kicked off her land for registering to vote and had become SNCC's guiding spirit in Mississippi. LBJ was so afraid of her speech at the convention, he gave a impromptu concocted press conference to push it off TV. Other figures in the film include the Rev. Martin Luther King; the late Pete Seeger, in one of his last interviews; and the strong, unflinching Rita, widow of slain rights worker Michael Schwerner.

Nelson's film feels unmistakably like a labor of love. It may be conventional, but it's uplifting, hopeful, and has a beautiful shape. The filmmaker us known for Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006), The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999) and Freedom Riders (2010). He has won several Emmys and been nominated for and won numerous other awards for his films as well as a MacArthur "genius" grant.

Freedom Summer i, 114 mins., debuted at Sundance January 2014, and was given brief but glowing reviews there in Variety (Rob Nelson and Hollywood Reporter (Duane Byrge). It was included in DOXA, Vancouver's documentary film festival (May 2-11), among others. Screened for this review as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. It airs on the PBS American Experience series June 24, 2014.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.


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