Burden,
released on March 6th from Director/Writer Andrew Heckler stars Forest
Whitaker and Garrett Hedlund. It will shock you to see a true story from
1996 centered around a Ku Klux Klan museum in Laurens, South Carolina
and the preacher who took on the modern day Klan. We spoke with producer
Robbie Brenner on March 9th (and will have the interview for you next
week) and learned that Heckler started working on this project in 2000,
four years after the events that Burden is based upon. Rated R, and
coming close to two hours in the theater, the film brings together a
difficult-to-recapture mix of violent race relations, a love story and
the struggle of moving on from one lifestyle to another. Reverend
Kennedy takes as much of a gamble as Klansman Mike Burden, incredible
risk setting in motion a series of events that are as thought-provoking
as they are compelling. Hedlund captures the individual, Mike Burden,
that you meet tucked inside the closing credits – a formerly explosive
beast tamed by those helping his evolving personality – his girlfriend,
her son and the preacher man. That Heckler, Brenner and all involved let
the film sauté over a twenty-year span of time is to their credit. With
commendable acting, directing and camera-work that takes the movie
home, there are stories within stories given a birds-eye view that will
generate conversations. I still can’t grasp that this kind of hate – and
compassion – brewed at this level within the past three decades. Like I
said…a conversation piece, and worth playing in every high school and
college for social studies or whichever discipline can gain an advantage
from this remarkably filmed piece of American history.
