Captivating Performances Can’t Elevate Preachy, Routine Racism Drama ‘Burden’ [Sundance Review]

We’ve seen many movies depict the presence of the KKK in southern states, even in the organization’s later years when the group was shunned and went further underground. A socially conscious movie like “Burden” must be commended for “going there” despite the old school, preachy theatrics that it deploys. Andrew Heckler‘s film, based on a 1996 incident that happened in South Carolina, tries to tackle tired ground that has been explored more thoughtfully and artfully in the past.

Heckler’s drama has fine performances and relevant themes which tap into the current zeitgeist, but what it doesn’t have is that extra something to push it above the herd that’s preceded it. Dealing with a small Klan revival which happened in the 1990s in which some local white men decided to buy a rundown movie theater in Laurens, South Carolina, and renovate it into “The Redneck KKK Museum,” the actual story is no doubt fascinating. Klan leader Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson) has taken under his wings Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), an uneducated youth that roams the streets of Laurens not knowing any better about the difference between right and wrong. Tom has so much confidence in Mike that he decides to make him head of the museum and signs the lease to his name. Wilkinson, a commendable actor, gives the best performance in the movie. Hedlund, on the other hand, gives a a strange turn, lurching instead of walking, and hilariously bobbling his head every time he speaks.

The excellent Andrea Riseborough plays Judy, a woman turned off by the prejudice in her town, who tries to show Mike a better path, while distancing him from Tom. Meanwhile, Reverend Kennedy (a touching Forest Whitaker) starts protests in front of the KKK museum which doesn’t sit well with Griffin and his crew. Later, when Jesse Jackson joins those rallying against the museum, Griffin tasks Mike with shooting Kennedy down. Of course, Mike doesn’t do it, which results in his leaving the Klan to start a fresh life with Judy, a decision which sees them shunned personally and professionally by the rest of the town. Kennedy takes them in, much to the chagrin of his family and congregation, as Mike still has plenty of work to do in changing his views.

Of course, Heckler tries to show us that not much has evolved over the years and that bigotry is very much present in the backwoods of America. The story is pedantically told, and the filmmaker can’t seem to overcome the familiar tropes that are at the core of his screenplay. His direction is also scattershot, and features a bewildering lack of style. Heckler knows his movie is “important,” and he attempts to emphasize that feeling with confusing camera angles that seem out-of-place and uninspired.

What keeps “Burden” captivating are the performances, especially from Riseborough, Whitaker and Wilkinson, consummate pros that give their characters flesh and blood dimension. Riseborough especially goes past the stereotypes that one may associate with the kind of character she plays, and infuses it instead with grit and a sense that life has truly run this woman down. Meanwhile, Whitaker, an Oscar winner with the gift to make any role he tackles work, plays the true protagonist of the film. It might seem that Hedlund would take that mantle, but his character is unlikable, and his transformation unconvincing. Mike’s eventual baptism feels unearned given the brutish behavior he displays throughout the picture.

In better hands “Burden” might have worked, but its message that love can conquer all, and truly turn a deeply bigoted man in a socially conscience direction feels more like a dream than current reality. [C]

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