HBO's "Prom Night In Mississippi"

I must be upfront - this post is a departure from my usual upbeat and fun product/music recommendations.... I want to talk to you all about HBO's "Prom Night in Mississippi", which aired last night on HBO for the first time.

I knew the premise of this movie/documentary was racism, but I wasn't exactly sure about watching it. Something inside of me reminded me it was on last night and my little voice inside said "watch it, you have to". So watch it I did.

How sad. I cried through almost the entire hour and a 1/2. Not for reasons most people would be upset, but just because the content was jarring, to say the least and it truly shook me to the core. We all know that there are pockets of the "Old South" that still adhere to the days of hard-core racism, but when it's layed out so blaintantly in a documentary with honest commentary - you can't help but cry or at least be truly sad.

Morgan Freeman lends his celebrity to this documentary as he is from the little town of Charleston, Mississippi; where the film is centered - he injects a little motivatin and "can do" attitude and gets the movie off and running.

To give you a little run-down: This documentary takes place in Charleston, Mississippi and focuses on a group of high-school seniors and their prom. The school is integrated but the proms are sponsored by students and parents and therefore have always been separate - a white prom for whites only and a black prom, for blacks only. Morgan Freeman speaks to the senior class and asks them if they'd like to have a "mixed prom" and the majority say yes. So he gets the school to sponsor their first "mixed prom" and the rest of the documentary is the fall out, hardships, opinions, etc... of this very difficult task.

I would suggest to anyone, that they watch this documentary - but be prepared, it is deep and it will move you. Be prepared to dedicate the hour and a 1/2 to watch this film because - well, you should.

Check out the website for a trailer and more info: http://www.promnightinmississippi.com/

and check out HBO Documentary Summer Series http://www.hbo.com/index.shtml to see when they will air this movie again, it's a MUST SEE.

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