Till

Her last film, Clemency, barely had a theatrical release in 2019. I'm sure most only heard about it when Alfre Woodard got a BAFTA nomination for it. Director Chinonye Chukwu's newest film, Till, won't escape anyone's radar that easily. Let's see why.

It's 1955 in Chicago. Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) sends her son, Emmett (Jalyn Hall), to visit his cousins in Money, Mississippi. She tells him to be on his best behavior around white folks. But he inadvertently offends shop-owner Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett) and a few days later, is lynched by her husband and brother-in-law. We only hear the crime in progress. But we eventually see the results.

Mamie dedicates her life to getting justice for Emmett. She gives him an open-casket funeral to let the world see what happened. She joins with Civil Rights leaders Medgar Evars (Tosin Cole) and T.R.M. Howard (Roger Guenveur Smith) to help get anti-lynching laws passed. Still, the Legal System in Money isn't interested in seeing justice done. She'll have to keep fighting anyway.

Chukwu collaborated with Keith Beauchamp, whose documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Till reopened the case in 2003, and Michael Reilly, in writing the script. It opens as Mamie and Emmett prepare for his trip. We see them in happier times as they dance to their favorite song and shop for nice clothes. We see Mamie as a loving, yet stern mother, while Emmett is a likable kid whose only flaw is naivety. It perfectly establishes their endearing relationship in no time. The foreknowledge of his murder is sure to make one ill at ease.

His corpse is revealed during the autopsy. This is easily the most disturbing part of the film between that and Mamie's drawn-out agonized screams. We soon see her deal with her grief and eventually channel that into activism. We stay on her side as the condescending (and worst) Money legal system antagonizes her. Although she leaves when she realizes "not guilty" is assured, she is applauded for her courage by the Black community. You will too. Still, while the trial was a joke, it's assuring to know that the killers lived as pariahs for the rest of their lives.

Deadwyler's performance is great, but there are a few good supporting players too. There's Whoopi Goldberg (one of the producers) as Mamie's mother Alma, a similarly loving and stern woman. John Douglas Thompson is Mamie's great-uncle Moses, whom Emmett was staying with, whose strongest scene is him defying witness intimidation to point out the killers. Jayme Lawson as Medgar's wife Myrlie (whom Goldberg played in Ghosts of Mississippi) has a strong scene with Mamie. Finally, the actors playing the racist townsfolks (especially the killers) perfectly play them as contemptable people. 

This is a tough film to sit through. But it's still a necessary one. Till's depiction of a vile crime will shock and anger you. It puts modern events in perspective as witnesses openly debunk the crime ever happened. I don't blame you if you choose to see something else. Anyone who sees it will get a compelling ensemble led by a powerful lead in Deadwyler. As for me, my next review will be something lighter.