Burden

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Writer-director Andrew Heckler’s latest feature length film Burden is an emotionally wrought true story character study on humanity’s capacity for change, understanding, love and hatred. The film is granted the enormous undertaking of telling the tale of a town suffocating from rising racial tension, a well-intentioned Reverend and a conflicted Klansman – which it mostly manages to pull off, though it doesn’t fully live up to its potential. Falling in line with emotionally poignant films like American History X, the movie Burden is thematically honorable and full of powerhouse performances, but its emotionally charged and controversial scenes don’t quite elicit powerful reactions, even when it’s clear that they are intended to. Ultimately, despite many variables in its favor, (from solid writing to exceptional casting) something in the Burden formula doesn’t quite compute – the film is good, but not great.

Burden is a cinematic retelling of a true story about the nitty gritty of southern racism and a man’s (and town’s) struggle to break the cycle of violence and discrimination. When a small town in South Carolina has a museum dedicated to the Klu Klux Klan take over a closed-down movie theater, Reverend Kennedy (Forest Whitaker) takes it upon himself to interfere. Shouldered with the responsibility of keeping tensions between the black community and the racist Klan members that populate the town to a minimum, the good Reverend has his hands full. At the helm of Reverend Kennedy’s opposition is Klan faction leader Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson). In the middle of the messy battle of virtue is troublemaker and fellow Klan member, Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund).

Reverend Kennedy, despite his position of influence in the black community, is fighting a losing battle within their small town. The police department stands by the Klan’s right to open the museum and often turn a blind eye to their more sinister dealings. The tides only begin to change when Mike Burden courts a single mother named Judy (Andrea Riseborough). Mike is inspired, seemingly by his relationship, to cease committing the atrocities encouraged by Tom and his fellow Klan members and finds himself receiving guidance from Father Kennedy and childhood friend Clarence (Usher Raymond). Mike’s road to redemption, which features a baptism by the Reverend, is often compelling enough – but the change in his morality feels a bit contrived.

Of course, Burden’s “betrayal” of the Klan greets him and Judy with consequences – opening him up even further to the virtues of love and kindness from Reverend Kennedy, Judy and Clarence. In these moments of destitution and desperation, Garrett Hedlund is given the greatest opportunity to flex his acting muscles and match the caliber of performance delivered by the rest of his surrounding cast. This is where I have the most trouble with this movie. It’s difficult to intensely criticize. The performances are strong across the board. While the titular character of Mike can be flat at times, Hedlund brings a layer of depth to him that would otherwise be lost. The villains are lecherous and the heroes divinely good. The tale of redemption is powerful and yet the film is lacking the salience it seems to be striving for.

Burden is a good movie that doesn’t quite live up to its narrative potential. This doesn’t mean it should be skipped entirely – it falls into a particular subgenre that does deserve a representative voice. If you’re looking to be moved without being devastated or if you have an interest in the implications of racism on contemporary society (the film is set in 1996), then this may be a good place to start. If these aren’t compelling enough to warrant a view – the film does raise awareness to the very real Klu Klux Klan museum that existed in South Carolina until fairly recently. There are also organizations looking to raise money to go towards restoring the location to its original movie theater outfitting.