agent alan ward ( willem dafoe ) and agent rupert anderson ( gene hackman ) find themselves investigate the disappearance of three civil right worker in a small and segregated town in mississippi . search for the boy lead to them find more corruption and hatred that could have ever be imagine . mississippi burning be one of the few film that actually capture the brutality of some event that take place during this sad era in history . the audience be shock and throw around through a series of emotion and help bring across the meaningless of hatred and the realism of that time period . the visual image portray be very hard to watch and make the film quite successful in it attempt to bring a point across . willem dafoe and gene hackman play the good cop and bad cop partnership perfectly and help create an almost flawless film . the chemistry they hold be almost so obscure and confusing and it be realistic and some how give the audience a feel of a real life partnership . the persistence of the two men character be very courageous and inspire also and make even me want to be an fbi agent after watch the film . overall and mississippi burning be a remarkable and brutal film with theme of racism and hatred scatter throughout . i highly recommend this film .