by Jeffery Rahming, Contributing Writer
The story of Mamie and Emmett Till is one of the last of the major civil rights stories to be adapted into a film. Till’s murder was one of the main catalysts of the civil rights movement that exploded in the ‘60s, and one of the most public cases of racial violence known at the time. But it’s obvious why making a film like this would be difficult. Although the other stories of the civil rights era are tragic in their own right, those movies are usually presented in an inspirational way. They’re rousing stories of the fight for change and progress. But Till, appropriately, is a movie with very few bright spots. How many can you have in a story where a boy is brutally murdered and the perpetrators face no consequences? It’s hard to make a film out of such a sensitive and painful topic, but director Chinonye Chukwu does a great job of capturing the raw truth of the tragic event. This is a story about dealing with the pain of grief and a devastating depiction of Black people trying to simply survive in a hostile country.
If you don’t know the story, Emmett Till was a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was killed for whistling at a white woman while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. His mother, Mamie, then held a highly publicized funeral in which Emmett’s mutilated body was shown in an open casket to show the nation what happened to her son and further expose the south’s cruelty to the rest of the world. Naturally, the movie all rests on the shoulders of Mamie (played by Danielle Deadwyler). While grieving for her son, she also suddenly becomes a public figure in the middle of a national civil rights battle. As you can imagine, the experience is a hellish one. This film has some scenes that would be rough for anybody to get through, but none of it feels exploitative or too far, which, with a movie like this, is a tricky balance to strike.
Deadwyler’s performance is what the whole movie hinges on, and she is phenomenal. Through her, we experience all the anxiety, guilt, grief, and strength that Mamie had while dealing with this. Even more impressive is her standing out in a cast full of incredible actors. The cast has some of the most realistic portrayals of a grieving family I have ever seen. This movie is the first time I’ve seen a funeral scene that fully captures the unflinching sorrow and inherent awkwardness of actual funerals. While all of the ensemble is great, some standouts include Whoopi Goldberg as Emmett’s grandmother and John Douglas Thompson as Moses Wright, Emmett’s uncle who was responsible for him at the time of his death. A scene with Moses and Mamie after Emmett’s death is one of the best in the movie specifically because of how great the acting is.
This is a powerful film that deserves the nation’s attention. It’s a great dramatic telling of this story that effectively toes the line between reality and melodrama. There are certainly some scenes that border on cheesy, but they’re few and far between, and it’s never enough to detract from the overall somber tone. It’s hard to recommend a movie that can best be described as unpleasant and depressing. But it’s not just important that we read and hear about these events, but that we remember the emotional toll African-Americans had to go through to even start the conversation about equal rights. Till is a movie that is as important as it is upsetting.
Score: 8/10
You can follow Jeffery Rahming on Twitter