Till Review

The murder of Emmett Till was an event that shocked America and became an important milestone in the Civil Rights Movement. The story of his mother attempting to get justice is told with Till.

Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) is a woman who is incredibly close to her 14-year-old son, Emmett (Jalyn Hall). He is often known as Bobo. Mamie is worried about Emmett going to Mississippi to visit his cousins. When Bobo gets murdered Mamie works with the NAACP to get Bobo’s murderers prosecuted and bring more awareness of the plight of African Americans in the Deep South.

Till was a film with two goals. One was a personal story about the lengths a mother would go to for her child, the other was a wider story about the Civil Rights Movement. The film was spinning numerous plates at the same time and it managed this.

The film does go overboard when it showed the relationship between Mamie and Bobo in the first act. Mamie was a doting mother and Bobo was shown to be a bit of a mummy’s boy. Bobo pleaded with her to get him a wallet and danced with her before his trip down south. Mamie tells Bobo to be careful in Mississippi since the rules were different there. Mamie was aimless when Bobo was away in the Deep South.

All of this was sickeningly sweet but it was done to give the audience a sugar rush. And like with every sugar rush, there’s a comedown and Till falls into a pit of sorrow, pain, and melodrama. This was to be expected since this was a film about a child’s murder.

Till does kick into gear when Bobo travels down to Mississippi. Bobo experiences the harshness of Segregation when his train crosses the border to a Southern State and he had to move to the Black only carriages. Bobo had a caviller attitude when staying in Mississippi because he was constantly joking and wolf-whistled toward a white woman. Bobo was a bit of an idiot since he would have still experienced racism in Chicago since his mother did.

The murder of Bobo was chilling. It was left to the imagination since only his screams were heard and the audience was left with the horrific aftermath.

Mississippi was a powder keg when the court case started. The state was forced into bringing charges against Bobo’s murderers. There was a threat of violence towards Mamie and the NAACP. A small yet shocking action was when Mamie was introduced to the prosecuting team and they didn’t shake her hand. It was an uphill struggle since Mamie and the NAACP were fighting against the whole legal system and Deep South culture.

Till showed that America is still suffering from the same issues. There are miscarriages of justice in racial cases because bias plays too significant a role. The sheriff even states a conspiracy theory which seemed like the film was sending a message that conspiracy theories were embedded in American culture.

Mamie became a reluctant figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Whilst she was still processing her grief the NAACP approached her to become a figurehead and lead the campaign to make lynching a federal offence. Her reaction was she just wanted to grieve for her son. Yet Mamie was shown before Bobo’s trip that she stood her ground when a security guard in a department store suggested that there were shoes in the basement.

This bravery was shown when Mamie took an extraordinary step to release a picture of her son’s mutated body. It became an important moment in the Civil Rights Movement since it highlighted the violence African Americans experienced in the Deep South. Mamie was willing to go into the lion’s den that was Mississippi during the murder trial.

Till needed a great performance from its lead actress and Deadwyler delivered. She had to do a lot of wailing because of the extreme but I thought the more interesting moments were when she had a focused determination. She had to control her anger when the NAACP approached her to be a campaigner. A great combination of acting and direction was when Mamie testified in court. It was done as one long take and simply focused on Mamie as she’s questioned. She remained steely throughout.

Till told an important story, and the filmmakers did give it justice, even if the first act was a little overdone.