TILL Moive Review

I believe it’s best to know the story of what happened to Emmett (Bobo) Till (Jalyn Hall) and what went on after his death when you see this film. Director Chinonye Chukwu, who was also one of the writers on the project, along with Michael Reilly & Keith Beauchamp, decided that the best point of view for her audience was the maternal one, for which you will agree.

Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), carried the weight of an entire movement on her shoulders after the death of her sweet son. If you can, for one moment, slide her heels onto your feet, you’ll never be the same.

All that said, I do wish Chukwu had spent a little more time on the potent mother-and-son relationship in the beginning. Had she done that, there wouldn’t have been a dry eye in any house. Jalyn Hall’s face is so lovable, and they were so cute together; knowing what’s coming up, you’re biting your nails. However, the most significant and only issue, honestly, was that the audience didn’t get enough of that love. The time we see them together is way too short to feel their bond. It’s a shame because since the audience isn’t as immersed as they could have been, this ultimately takes away from Danielle Deadwyler’s performance, as good as it was. Deadwyler captures Mamie’s excruciating grief and pain; she’s a shoo-in for a nomination this season. The scene when his body is first returned to her is not one you’ll soon forget.

It’s 1955 and the Till’s live in Chicago, the only world Emmett has ever known. He is about to get a chance to see another part of the U.S., one he is terribly naïve about. Emmett will be going with his uncle and cousins to stay in Mississippi. Since she agreed he could go, something has been eating away at Mamie about the trip. Knowing how white people treat his kind there, she gives him instructions on how to speak and how to act. She explains to him that there are different sets of rules in the south and that he can’t even look at a white person the wrong way. Emmett’s father fought and died for their country, but that kind of thing doesn’t matter to a racist. Sadly, he couldn’t quite comprehend what his mother was saying. Emmett finds himself in trouble in no time flat, as the rules and the severity with which they needed to be understood had been mistaken. It’s after this that the intention of the film starts, and the quality filmmaking begins.

The filmmaker chose not to focus on the physical violence the 14-year-old child endured but instead on what his mother went through fighting for his rights and for the rights of every African American in the United States of America. Chukwu makes sure that her audience knows why Mamie bravely asks that her son be put in his best suit and doesn’t allow his battered face to be put back together. She left his casket open for the viewing and funeral so that the world could see what people filled with racism and hate did to her innocent boy. She wanted to make an impact, and she did. Joining with a young Medgar Evers (Tosin Cole), her efforts led to the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. She made a statement she hoped everyone would take to heart that freedom must be for everyone, or freedom fails. Sounds like her words are still telling the world to pay attention.

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***The movie opens this Friday, 10/21, in PHX at Camelview exclusive. Expands to other locations next week.