TILL

US, 2022, 130 minutes, Colour.

Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Enoch King, Haley Bennett.

Directed by Chinonye Chukwu.

Till provides its audience with a highly emotional experience. It is based on historical events in 1955, in the American South. It is a film about racism and injustice towards black Americans.

The screenplay is partly based on research by investigator, Kenneth Beauchamp, who for many decades investigated the background of the murder of Emmett Till and the perpetrators. By 2004, his work influenced legislation, The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act, making lynching a hate crime. This came half a century after the murder of Emmett Till. A documentary based on Beauchamp’s work was released in 2005.

In fact, there have been quite a number of films about such murders in Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s, including films about activist, Medgar Evers (For Us the Living), Murder in Mississippi, Ghosts of Mississippi, the murder of the young civil rights workers from the North, killed in the South in 1966), Mississippi Burning…

This film has two parts. The first part is the focus on Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie, their life in Chicago, his visiting the South to see his cousins, his abduction and murder, and his mother demanding the return of his body to Chicago. The second part of the film focuses on the trial of the accused, the white audience, the segregated Blacks, lies on the stand, the verdict.

The film recreates the period quite vividly, the look of Chicago’s streets, buildings, offices, neighbourhoods, costumes and decor, cars… And, it recreates the atmosphere of the South, the small town of Money, the streets, the general store, the cotton fields, the homes of the African-Americans.

Danielle Deadwyler (The Devil to Pay) gives a commanding performance as Emmett’s mother, Mamie. Widowed during World War II, her son is now 14. She is loving, devoted, even possessive. She is supported by her mother, played by Whoopi Goldberg, supported by her absent father. She is anxious about letting Emmett visit the South, wanting letters, phone calls, continually concerned.

There are touches for humour in Emmett’s visit, a cheerful young man, bonding with his uncle and nephews, finding it too hard to work in the cotton fields, with his cousins in town, going into a store with a stern white woman behind the counter, wanting some candy, talking with 14-year-old flirtation, then a wolf whistle. His cousins are afraid – and the woman’s relatives come to the house, demand Emmett, taking him away, torturing and brutally killing him (this happening offscreen).

This part of the film is quite harrowing, emphasised by the high outbursts of grief on Mamie’s part, weeping, howling, lamenting – demanding the body be brought, watching the body (this time in close-up with its torture and wounds), making demands on local authorities, on the NAACP, wanting justice to be done.

The court case turns out to be as we might have anticipated, a big number of large, older white men (including the jury), the presiding judge, the Blacks having to stand the back of the court, Mamie coming with her defence team. But, before the case, she visits the site of the store – and confronts her cousin for not defending Emmett, his protecting his own family.

One of the appalling sequences is with the woman from the store in the witness box, telling elaborate lies about Emmett, demonstrating how he attacked her… Mamie knows how the verdict will come out and leaves before it is pronounced. We are told at the end that the abductors were freed, sold their story to Look Magazine and lived comfortable lives, the woman who lied also going free, never challenged.

Mamie devoted her life to campaigning on behalf of African-American rights.

1. A drama based on the story of Emmett Till, Chicago, his visit to the south, his behaviour, his being lynched? The response of his mother? The trial and the atmosphere of racism in the 1950s?
2. The re-creation of the period, Chicago, the African-Americans in Chicago, the greater tradition of freedom? The contrast with the South, the racism, segregation, racist behaviour taken for granted? The African-Americans in the south, their place, segregated, working in the cotton fields, insulted? At the back of the court? The warnings from those from the North to keep their place when visiting the South?
3. The period, the city, buildings, streets, cars? The South, the small town, the shop, the streets, the African-American homes, the cotton fields? The courts? The musical score?
4. The two halves of the film, the focus on Emmett and his mother, the bond between them, her apprehensive about his going south, the Preacher and the cousins? Her continued concern? The second half of the film, the discovery of Emmett’s body, the morgue, the trial?
5. Emmett, 14, his father dead in World War II, the relationship with his mother, wearing his father’s ring and identified by it, Gene and his looking after Emmett and Mamie? Life, comfortable, Mamie and her touch of being possessive, her constant worrying, discussions with Preacher, seeing Emmett off at the station? Mamie and her work, the only black woman in the office? Gene and his support?
6. Emmett, in the south, in the house, with the cotton, his finding it too hard, the friendly cousins, in the town, the shop, his wanting to buy candy, the attitude of the woman, his flirtatious behaviour, outside and the wolf whistle? The cousins and their apprehensiveness? Going home, Preacher and his being wary?
7. Mamie, her mother, the scenes with her, support, her estranged father, his support, travelling with her to the south? Her mother’s grief at Emmett’s death?
8. The abductors, in the car, with the woman from the store nodding, intruding into the house, guns, Preacher and the gun in the house, protecting his family, their dragging Emmett away, the longshot of their attack on him, the rest of the violence not shown on screen?
9. Mamie, getting the news, her emotional collapse? Expressing her grief, tears, howls? Gene and his support? Her wanting the body brought to Chicago, its arrival, the mortuary, the smell of the body, her looking at her son, the graphic scenes of his torture, the gunshot, mutilation? The audience being forced to look at Emmett and experience what he suffered?
10. The court case, Mamie and her decision to go, the dangers? Her appearance, her dignity, commanding presence? Her clothes and style? Not wanting Gene to come?
11. With the family, her attack on Preacher, seeing the rifle, her criticism in and his defence of his family? Talking with him out in the woods? The young cousins and their apology?
12. The visit to the town, Money, outside the shop, its being closed since the event?
13. The court, the crowd of racist whites, the white man jury, the judge and his handling the court, the Blacks at the back, the prosecutor, the defence, Mamie and the lawyers and the special section?
14. The Chicago background, the NCAA P, the lawyers, coming to visit and Mamie making demands, the interviews at the NCAA P, the presence at the trial? Demands about the trial?
15. The interrogations, the woman and her lies, creating the full story about what Emmett did and said, her demonstrating the attack? The attackers, their stories? Mamie and her being interrogated? Her leaving before the end of the trial, knowing the verdict?
16. The verdict, the cover up, the later information about the abductors and their selling their story to Look magazine, never apprehended? Nothing happening to the woman?
17. Mamie, her speech, work with the NCAA P, a campaigner, marrying Gene, a long life and social activities?
18. A story of the 1950s, the period of Rosa Parks, early action of Martin Luther King? The introduction of Medgar Evers, his presence, care for Mamie, his wife and her action, and the later story of the assassination of Medgar Evers? The white campaigners in Mississippi and their murder in the 1960s? The screenwriter, Kenneth Beauchamp, and his long investigations into the case, and the changing of the legislation, the Emmett Till legislation in 2004?