So I caught all the warnings, telling me to ‘prepare myself’ before I watched ‘Mississippi Damned.’  Whether it’s my age or my own secrets, I was less shocked than some by the ‘darkness’ of this movie.  But I’m incredibly glad it exists; without going off on a tangent, many of the issues brought up in this movie (which, as usual, I don’t want to spoil for you) aren’t talked about nearly enough.  Every family has their own issues to deal with, but (as expressed in one of the many powerful scenes in this film), when the older generation doesn’t even want to acknowledge what happened to their children, that’s how cycles continue unchecked.

I’ve heard Tina Mabry’s film referenced as the film that put Tessa Thompson on the radar of others.  As I’ve come to expect now, she’s great in her role, and in this particular film she’s part of a huge ensemble of solid black actors (some others you’ll recognize as character actors in other things you’ve seen).  It certainly isn’t the most ‘Hollywood’ film, but again, it’s a story that doesn’t get told enough.  If the ‘democracy of distribution’ that we’re moving further into makes it easier for films like this to get to their target audiences, then I’m all for it.

Now streaming on Netflix.