Till (2022) is a true story based on 27 years of research by producer, writer and filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. His work and writing about the Emmett Till case, which dates back to the 1990s, helped bring the Till case back to the United States Department Of Justice in 2004. The murder of Emmett Till was a galvanizing moment for the civil rights movements, and Till tells the story of how his mother Mamie Till Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) stood up to injustice and made an evergreen stamp in the fight against racism.
“In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching, his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have those involved brought to justice.”
Director: Chinonye Chukwu Writers: Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, Chinonye Chukwu Staring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg Release Date: October 28, 2022 IMDB
Till (2022) is a true story based on 27 years of research by producer, writer and filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. His work and writing about the Emmett Till case, which dates back to the 1990s, helped bring the Till case back to the United States Department Of Justice in 2004. The murder of Emmett Till was a galvanizing moment for the civil rights movements, and Till tells the story of how his mother Mamie Till Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) stood up to injustice and made an evergreen stamp in the fight against racism.
In 1955, Mamie sees her son board a train and head down to Mississippi to visit his cousins in the deep south. As a mother, Mamie has natural fears about her only child venturing into a part of the country where his outgoing and confident personality will be brazen to the white locals.
Mamie’s worst fears are realized when she finds out that Emmett has been murdered. Till’s main storyline follows Mamie’s quest to raise awareness about her son’s murders. She has photographs taken of her son’s mutilated body published for the world to see. She holds an open casket funeral to make sure the horror is not forgotten. Mamie goes down to Mississippi and faces the corrupt court that is surely going to let her son’s murderers go. She testifies, lays it all on the line, and stands tall in the end knowing that closure is something society can’t give her.
I’ll be the first to say that I did know the story of Emmett Till and Mamie TIll Mobley. Till brings to life a part of American history that people would like to forget, but should not be forgotten. It is sad that the story of Emmitt’s death is predictable, but it is everything that Mamie does after the fact that keeps the movie engaging. The choices made by Mamie are shocking to many, but the effects they have on those who followed the case are somewhat timeless.
Till tells its story through the point of view of Mamie and social justice. While this point of view takes the majority of possible viewers into consideration, I would have loved to see a story with journalism as a focusing lens. Truly, this story shows how a photograph is worth more than 1,000 words. How did the publishing of Emmett’s body shift journalism’s storytelling around lyching in the south and civil injustice overall? What was the country’s overall reaction to it? We heard snippets from the radio of different parts of society, but a deeper surgical approach society’s reactions would have made me tingle.
For as strong as the story of Till is, the movie leaves me wanting more. Till is a perfect movie to show to a high school or middle school history class. It showcases the true hellish environment that black people had to endure in the 1950s, and it doesn’t leave much room for discussion. Everything about the movie is binary. Good vs. evil. Justice vs. injustice.
I am not here saying that the murder of Emmett Till needs to be discussed in terms of good or bad. We can all agree it’s a terrible consequence of racism and bigotry. But examining the events through a societal lens, that could have made Till even more profound. We don’t see what happens to Mamie or society after the trial of her son. We are told about it through letter cards.
The text rolling across the screen before the end credits of Till brought more emotion out of me than the movie as a whole. The post credit scene tells the tale of how lynching was made a federal hate crime officially and the act was named after Emmett Till. It educates the audience how the important character Medgar Evers (Tosin Cole) was assassinated later in life because of his drive for civil rights. The most lasting fact told at the film’s end is that the killers of Emmett admit to the crime just a year after they are deemed innocent by the courts. They never faced any punishment for their crimes.
Till inspired me to read up more on the Emmett Till story, but the story itself is not as powerful as it could be. With that being said, the movie is bad by any means. It is not visually stunning, but it doesn’t stick with basic cable camera blocking. The acting from the cast is consistent, and the anchor for everyone is Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley. She is asked to do the heavy lifting, and her acting during the testimony scene is undeniably powerful. Many pushed for Deadwyler to be Oscar nominated last year, but she did not reach that mark. Perhaps in my personal Oscar nominations she could have snuck past Florence Pugh in The Wonder (2022), but that movie was better and that part was more interesting…so still Deadwyler would be just short.
Till is both an accomplishment and a let down. It highlights an event worth illuminating, but it states it as a fact rather than creating a discussion around it. It leaves an impact on the viewer, but the movie itself is forgettable. The story sticks in your crawl, but the medium through which it is told limits the scope and power of its message. Till is worth watching, but it’s alright to feel a tinge of disappointment after the fact.
As of August 2023, Till is streaming on Amazon Prime.
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