A movie for our times
Burden (R16, 117 mins) Directed by Andrew Heckler Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★★
Based on a startling and even more complex true story, Burden is a film that probably could not be opening at a more appropriate time.
In 1996, Michael Burden was a young man living in Laurens, South Carolina. He had a job as a repo man, a side hustle in demolition and construction, and an intensely close bond with the man and the family who raised him as their own. Like nearly everyone he called a friend, Burden was a fully-paid up member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Burden’s life reached a crisis when he met Judy, a single mother he had to repossess a television from. The two fell quickly into a relationship, and Judy and her young son become the family that Burden had maybe been craving all his life.
But Judy was repulsed by the racism that Burden and his friends lived by. It became obvious to Burden that he would have to choose between the Klan and his new love. Burden chose Judy. And then life got hard.
Ostracised by his old friends and still distrusted by the town’s black population, Burden quickly found himself out of work, evicted from his rental, and unemployable.
Burden’s rescue came in the figure of a black Baptist preacher, the Reverend Kennedy, who took him and Judy in, found him work and eventually inspired the renunciation of his old life and gradual, ongoing, redemption.
Without some strong writing and powerhouse casting, a film like Burden could too easily collapse into sentiment and self-conscious ‘‘wholesomeness’’. But writer/ director Andrew Heckler didn’t work for 20 years to get this film made for nothing.
His script is mostly unflinching, with plenty of moments that’ll have you wincing at the sheer callousness and ignorance that underpins the Klan’s pseudoideology. Yes, there are a few mawkish moments but, sometimes, real life can be like that.
In Garrett Hedlund (Mudbound), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Andrea Riseborough (The Death of Stalin), Heckler has an exceptionally strong lineup to bring this story to life. Hedlund turns in a performance so full of tics, shrugs and impassioned-but-nearly-in-audible dialogue, he can only be gunning for some of Tom Hardy’s workload. Rounding out the bench is veteran Tom Wilkinson (Selma), as the uniquely loathsome Klan leader who has raised Burden and who now plans to open a Klan museum in town.
Burden ain’t perfect. It occasionally preaches a little too eagerly to the choir. But, at this tragic moment in America’s story, it seems a valid and compelling film that deserves to be seen.
Burden is now screening in select cinemas.
As the credits roll, viewers are invited to a website to support the work of the people of Laurens to build a new community centre there. It seemed like a great cause, so I’ve donated what I’ll be paid for this week’s reviews. You might like to throw something in too.