''Burden'' is a 2018 American drama film, inspired by
true events. The film was produced by
Robbie Brenner
Robbie Brenner is an American producer and film executive with over 20 years of industry experience. In 2013 she produced ''Dallas Buyers Club'', which starred Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Garner and earned Brenner a nomination f ...
and
Bill Kenright, and was written and directed by Andrew Heckler. The film stars
Garrett Hedlund
Garrett John Hedlund (born September 3, 1984) is an American actor. His films include ''Troy'' (2004), '' Friday Night Lights'' (2004), '' Four Brothers'' (2005), ''Eragon'' (2006), ''Death Sentence'' (2007), '' Tron: Legacy'' (2010), ''Country ...
,
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
,
Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008), '' Never Let Me Go ...
,
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...
,
Tess Harper
Tessie Jean Harper (''née'' Washam; born August 15, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's ''Tender Mercies'', and for the Academy Award for Be ...
, and
Usher
Usher may refer to:
Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place:
* Usher (occupation)
** Church usher
** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony
** Fiel ...
. The film premiered at the
2018 Sundance Film Festival
The 2018 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to January 28, 2018. The first lineup of competition films was announced on November 29, 2017.
Awards
The following awards were presented:
* U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award: '' Th ...
and won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award.
Plot
The film follows Mike Burden (
Garrett Hedlund
Garrett John Hedlund (born September 3, 1984) is an American actor. His films include ''Troy'' (2004), '' Friday Night Lights'' (2004), '' Four Brothers'' (2005), ''Eragon'' (2006), ''Death Sentence'' (2007), '' Tron: Legacy'' (2010), ''Country ...
), an orphan raised within the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
who attempts to break away when the woman (
Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008), '' Never Let Me Go ...
) he falls in love with urges him to leave for a better life together. The Klan seeks Mike out for vengeance. A black Baptist church congregation, led by Reverend Kennedy (
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
), agree to protect Mike, his girlfriend and her son.
Cast
*
Garrett Hedlund
Garrett John Hedlund (born September 3, 1984) is an American actor. His films include ''Troy'' (2004), '' Friday Night Lights'' (2004), '' Four Brothers'' (2005), ''Eragon'' (2006), ''Death Sentence'' (2007), '' Tron: Legacy'' (2010), ''Country ...
as Mike Burden
*
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
as Reverend David Kennedy
*
Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008), '' Never Let Me Go ...
as Judy
*
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...
as Tom Griffin
*
Usher
Usher may refer to:
Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place:
* Usher (occupation)
** Church usher
** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony
** Fiel ...
as Clarence Brooks
*
Crystal R. Fox
Crystal R. Fox (born January 1, 1964) is an American actress and singer. Fox performed in many stage productions during her career, and is best known for her television roles as Luann Corbin in the NBC/CBS police drama series '' In the Heat of ...
as Janice Kennedy
*
Dexter Darden
Dexter Darden is an American actor, best known for playing the role of Walter Hill in '' Joyful Noise,'' and Frypan in the ''Maze Runner'' film series.
Personal life
Dexter was engaged to singer/actress JoJo, they split in November 2022
...
as Kelvin Kennedy
* Austin Hébert as Clint
* Taylor Gregory as Franklin
*
Tess Harper
Tessie Jean Harper (''née'' Washam; born August 15, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's ''Tender Mercies'', and for the Academy Award for Be ...
as Hazel Griffin
* Devin Bright as Duane Brooks
* Joshua Burge as Ronny
Production
Production of the film began October 20, 2016 and was set to wrap up on November 15, 2016.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Burden'' grapples clumsily with its undeniably worthy themes, but its honorable intentions — and strong performances — make it easy to forgive those flaws."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives the film a weighted average of 63/100 based on 6 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
See also
*
List of black films of the 2010s
The following is a list of black films that were released in the 2010s. Black films listed here are generally associated with the peoples from the African diaspora; the cinema of Africa is distinct from this topic (see list of African films). Lawr ...
References
External links
*
2018 films
2018 drama films
Films about evangelicalism
Films about religious leaders
Films about racism
Films about poverty
Films set in 1996
Films set in South Carolina
Films about the Ku Klux Klan
American drama films
Drama films based on actual events
Sundance Film Festival award winners
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
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