Review

In 1963, civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated in front of his Mississippi home. The murderer went free after two hung juries couldn't come to a verdict. Thirty years later, Evers' widow pushed for a new trial, eventually bringing her husband's killer to justice. This sad chapter of America's past is the focus of Reiner's commendable if unremarkable film, a detective and courtroom drama which doesn't quite have the passion of its convictions. Baldwin plays the Assistant District Attorney in charge of the case, and Goldberg is Myrlie Evers. Like so many Hollywood films about racial prejudice against African-Americans, the story is seen through the eyes of a white person -- here Baldwin. But whereas a film like Mississippi Burning has energy and focus, Ghosts of Mississippi has professionalism but little heart. Baldwin is adequate in fleshing out his character, but Goldberg has little to work with. Woods is very good as the killer.