Film Pick of the Week: Till - review by Yvette Huddleston
In the summer of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till left his home and his mother in Chicago to go and visit family in Mississippi. He never returned. Accused of offending a white woman in a local store, he was abducted by the woman’s husband and his half-brother, then tortured, murdered and his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River. The tragic incident and the subsequent fight for justice by Till’s mother became a galvanising force in the emerging American Civil Rights movement.
Director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu’s sensitive and powerful dramatization of that shocking true story features an outstanding performance from Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley who channelled personal tragedy, grief and loss into activism, bringing to the attention of the whole of America the bald truth about the barbaric treatment of Black citizens in the South. This is never more viscerally communicated than in her decision to hold an open-casket funeral so that the world could see the terrible brutality that had been inflicted upon her beloved son.
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Hide AdDeadwyler’s portrayal of Till-Mobley is incredibly moving and quietly devastating. From the opening moments of the film as she laughs and jokes with the playful, confident young Emmett (Jalyn Hall), she subtly conveys the sense of dread that is already growing within her at the prospect of her son’s trip to the South. Before he leaves, she warns him to “be small down there”.
After Emmett’s death, her dignity and contained righteous anger is so powerfully conveyed as she seeks justice for her son. A justice that she knows will never be done in a courtroom in the South with a jury of 12 white men. The scenes in the court are some of the most harrowing in the whole film as racists tell lies about Emmett, safe in the knowledge that there will be no reprisals.
Whoopi Goldberg has a small but memorable role as Mamie’s mother Alma who is overwhelmed by guilt and feels responsible for her grandson’s death, as it was she who suggested that Emmett go to Mississippi to visit family and ‘to learn about his roots’. Of course, she is not to blame – it is entirely the responsibility of the racist thugs who murdered him. This is a historical drama but there are contemporary resonances, not least the fact that the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act was passed into US law only last year – 67 years after the innocent teenager’s death.