Ghosts of Ole Miss
October. 30,2012
In the fall of 1962, a dramatic series of events made Civil Rights history and changed a way of life. On the eve of James Meredith becoming the first African-American to attend class at the University of Mississippi, the campus erupted into a night of rioting between those opposed to the integration of the school and those trying to enforce it. Before the rioting ended, the National Guard and Federal troops were called in to put an end to the violence and enforce Meredith's rights as an American citizen.
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Reviews
Simply Perfect
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Excellent, Without a doubt!!
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
The subject for this "30 for 30" film seemed bizarre. After all, the campus was literally one fire--filled with violence, mayhem and federal troops when the school was forcibly integrated. And yet, the film talks about this AND the fact that the school's football team was unbeaten! To me, this is like talking about the POSITIVES about the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in 14th century Europe!!! Sure, 1/3 of the people were killed...but due to a 'thinning of the herd', foot was very plentiful that year!!! Huh?!This film was, by far, at its best when focusing on the integration issues. I loved finally seeing James Meredith being interviewed today and learning more on the extent of the violence during this crazy, stupid period. And, it seemed so incredibly banal when it talked about the football team (a team which was all-white). Who cares?! Overall, this was incredibly strong and interesting as well as stupid and pointless at the same time. An odd little film, that's for sure--- and one of the weakest in the usually exceptional "30 for 30" series.
30 for 30: Ghosts of Ole Miss (2012) *** (out of 4)Another good entry in the ESPN series takes a look at the 1962 Ole Miss team, which ended up going undefeated but this has pretty much been forgotten due to a race riot that happened when President Kennedy began to try and get a black man enrolled at the school. GHOSTS OF OLE MISS is a good entry in the series but I must admit that I found it strange that it was the shortest in the series up to this point in the second wave of movies. At just 60-minutes with the commercials I think the film was simply too short to cover everything it needed to at any good length. The majority of the film takes a look at the racial tensions at the school and this here is fine because it's captivating stuff but at the same time the football team and their accomplishment gets overlooked. Then getting overlooked so much here was rather strange because the plot of the documentary is showing how great of a team they were and the fact that they were overlooked in their day yet this film ends up doing the same thing. Since the film spends so much time with the racial tension, I thought a longer running time to also focus on the team would have helped. As it stands, it's a good, quick look at the events but it's certainly not as detailed as it should have been.
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