Burden

Michael Burden (Garret Hedlund) is a quiet, blue-collar army veteran living in a small South Carolina town just getting by as a repo man. He soon meets Judy (Andrea Riseborough) and her son Franklin, falls in love with Judy, and starts a new makeshift family with them. Judy finds out that although Mike is almost perfect when it comes to her and her son, he’s not so perfect outside their family unit. Mike Burden has a dark streak: he’s second in command of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter right under the older, controlling, and manipulative Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson). Things intensify when Tom opens up “The Redneck Store”/KKK Museum on Main Street in Laurens, SC. The store infuriates the town’s local black population, especially Rev. Kennedy (played by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker), who launches peaceful protests in front of the shop. As drama and tensions unfold, Judy wants Mike out of the KKK and she makes him an ultimatum: it’s either her or the Klan. Mike chooses Judy and leaves the Klan, but at a high cost – his job, Judy’s job, and their home are all taken away from them (that’s how much power the Klan has in the town). And that’s when the Rev. Kennedy and his family make the ultimate sacrifice, they take their enemy and his family into their home and show them unconditional love and support during their time of need. Based on true events that happened in the late 1990s, the movie is hard to watch at times, not because the movie is bad by any means, it’s just the subject matter. For a small, low-budget production, the writing, directing, production, and acting are all top-notch. Atlanta’s own Usher co-stars.

[R]