As I sit and write this review of Ghosts Of Mississippi it occurs to me that in two days we will be voting on whether we will be having the kind of America Byron DeLa Beckwith would find appealing. Nothing less is at stake.

June 12, 1963 only hours after John R. Kennedy lined up his administration with the cause of civil rights on national television, Medgar Evers the head of ther Mississippi branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was shot down in the driveway of his home in Jackson. It was as if Mississippi itself was issuing a defiance of JFK in the most brutal terms possible.

Informers in the Ku Klux Klan gave up the name of Byron DeLa Beckwith one unapologetic racist who gloated about the Evers death but wouldn't take that final step of admission. Beckwith was tried twice and both trials ended in jung juries.

Come 1994 and a sea change has occurred in Mississippi due to the passing of the civil rights act and the voting rights acts. Beckwith and an appointment with justice was long overdue. Especially since both women and black people could now sit on Mississippi juries.

Shot in Mississippi in the very locations of the action of the film Ghosts Of Mississippi is a tribute to the work of Medgar Evers and those who wanted to see justice done. Alec Baldwin plays the Assistant District Attorney who even with some family pressures from in-laws refuses to back down. A great job from Baldwin as the film lead.

Whoopi Goldberg gives a poignant performance as Myrlie Evers the widow of Medgar who like Coretta Scott King moved right in to continue her husband's work. She should have gotten Oscar consideration for her work here.

Almost as an axis of evil to borrow a phrase the film turns on what James Woods does with his performance as Beckwith. Now a big hero on the Ku Klux Klan, Beckwith has eyes, but can't see the changes that have come to Mississippi. It's as if Theodore G. Bilbo was still governor and lynching black people was socially acceptable.

Sadly the past four years in the USA that the Beckwiths are far from forgotten. Indeed they are lionized by some in high places. We face a decision shortly whether such will still be the case.

James Woods got a Best Supporting Actor for playing Beckwith and the makeup that made him look like the old man he was also got an Oscar for the film.

Ghosts Of Mississippi should be required viewing for all who want to know about the Civil Rights era and the struggle for equality. Follow the news of today if you want to know how easily it can be lost without citizen vigilance.

In 1963 Mississippi, civil rights leader Medgar Evers is assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods) leaving his wife Myrlie (Whoopi Goldberg) a widower. Byron is arrested and treated as a hero by the white establishment. It's 1989. After two hung juries, Myrlie wants to reopen the case. Assistant district attorney Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) and his southern family don't see the point of pursuing the case. He's the son-in-law of the original racist judge. Every piece of evidence and transcript have disappeared except one unnamed source claiming Myrlie as the killer. Bobby decides to take on the case despite the opposition from everyone including his wife, the 6th Amendment, and the march of time.

This is obviously important history. For the most part, the first half is pretty good. It's unflinching in it portrayal of Mississippi of the past and the present. It does threaten to go melodramatic at times. The story is so devastating that director Rob Reiner's little melodramatic touches are not necessary. The trial gets stretched and the tension starts to fade. I guess the real story restricts his dramatic efforts. This is a big story and Reiner does a reasonable job.

I don't know whether "Ghosts of Mississippi" was the best movie ever relating to the Civil Rights Movement, but it is quite good. Portraying the struggle to bring Medgar Evers's murderer to justice many years after the murder, the movie will remain important, just because of our country's racist legacy (I had actually never heard of Medgar Evers before this movie came out). Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Virginia Madsen, Whoopi Goldberg, Craig T. Nelson and William H. Macy all do very well in their roles (Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Yolanda also appears).

So, while some people may say that there are so many movies like this that they all get blurred, we need to remember something: this is part of OUR history. As Americans, we have an obligation to deal with our racist past. And we should commend Rob Reiner for making one of many movies about this.