- Early in Raymond De Felitta’s documentary of the 1960s-era South, “Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story,” a couple of tales are quickly told about black men who were shot or beaten for their transgressions against whites: one for inadvertently brushing his mop against a woman’s foot, another for touching someone’s car. The anecdotes lay down the law as it stood shortly before the time Booker Wright, a black waiter, made the fateful decision to explain to a documentary crew for NBC News not only what he served white customers but also how he felt about their varied treatment of him.
- A Film Settles Accounts From the ’60s (April 21, 2012) He was beaten for his brave, conscientious honesty, and his own business (the Booker’s Place of the title) was torched.
- A powerful, personal portrait of history's unfolding and its effect on the future, the documentary "Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story" is in equal measure a look at two families, the ongoing legacy of America's recent past and an essay on one man's moment of transformative courage. Director Raymond De Felitta (his last fiction feature was"City Island") does a noteworthy job of allowing those separate topics to feel distinct and give each equal consideration.
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