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Show or Defense’ takes up armsagainst injustice By Kate O'Hare Zapeit Itis probably the coldest nightin the history of Bogalusa, La. In front of a barn surrounded by fields glossed with frost and frozen hard as a rock, a technicianfires up a blowtorch and begins to setfire to a large, woodencross. soldier Hogan blunt butler in the “Joe Millionaire, Thursday the assembled crowd; a horse stampsand neighs somewhere nearby, barely heard overthe rumble of propaneheaters;and the lights of Toronto twinkle far off in the distance. OK,it’s not exactly Bo- segregation andvoting “[ love this movie,” says star Forest Whitaker, bundledinto an orange downcoat betweentakes. “It needs to betold. It's a movie about a man trying to take care ofhis family - his wife andhis children trying to cre- galusa - it's a frigid October nightin Canada, and the order of business for the gatheredfilm crew andcastis to re-create a Ku Klux Kianrally. An Ontario farm field is the unlikely set- atea betterlife. For me,it's a very Defense," premiering Sunday, Feb. limitations of Jim Crow and keephis. family safe. Things begin to change whentwocivil-rights activists from the North - Deane andHillibrand (Jonathan Silverman, Adam Weiner) ~ arrive in townto opena civil-rights office. Atfirst, Marcus wants universalstory.” Whitaker (“The Twilight Zone’) plays Marcus Clay, a war veteran working in a paper mill in Bo- ting for this scene from “Deaconsfor galusa, whois trying to live within the 16, on Showtimeaspart of the cable channel's Black History Month pro- gramming. Thefilm is based on the true story of a groupofblack men mostly World War Il and Korean War veterans - who take up arms against the Ku Klux Kian in Louisianain the mid-1960s. The Deaconsfor Defense and Justice, of which little is known today, protected CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) volunteers and oth- nothing to do with the meetings and Protests, even though his teenage daughter, Lucille (Serena Lee), wants to join, But when police break up @ peaceful rally and he sees (Continued on page 23) |
