REVIEW: New Film Till Is an Incredible Story of One Mother’s Love That Changed the World

Till, starring Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall), Whoopie Goldberg (The Color Purple), and Jayln Hall (All American), was nothing less than a deeply emotional and riveting story of a mother’s unwavering love centered on the horrific lynching of the late 14-year-old Emmett Till, whose story changed a nation during the 1950s. 

Directed by the incredibly talented Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency), the film focused on the maternal point of view of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, the name heard around the world which amplified the Civil Rights Movement across the United States. Mamie’s actions and Till’s murder were the catalysts for global awareness to the movement, thanks to her courage and bravery in showing the media and public exactly what happened to her son at the hands of racists in the small town of Money, Mississippi while Till was on vacation as a child. Emmett was kidnapped while visiting with extended family for a few weeks over one summer. With their directed Black accomplices, a gang of white men, including the husband of a white female shopkeeper, kidnapped, lynched, beat, and mutilated this young boy for allegedly whistling at the same woman while he was purchasing something from a store earlier that day. Emmett’s murder was one of the most horrific publicized cases, and very few people alive at that time and even to this day, did not come to know his name.

Chukwu spared no detail in focusing on the multi-dynamic view of Deadwyler’s portrayal of Mamie with the escalated emotional toll that racism, sexism, and misogyny took on her and the incredible courage she braved to try and bring justice for her son. Mamie’s story was less about herself and her grief and more about her son’s justice and the entire Black community affected by lynchings and missing person reports which were the norm in the 1950s and, sadly, which we still see today. Yet through encouragement from the NAACP and Black activists like Medgar Evers (Tosin Cole), Mamie brought change for generations with her unfiltered honesty in retelling who Emmett Till was and what had so violently happened to her son. 

Danielle Deadwyler was incredible in her performance as she moved from gut-wrenching catastrophic pain to stoic and quick thinking as Mamie Till-Mobley. Deadwyler’s emotional range in Till is award-worthy, and she captivates on screen. Jalyn Hall epitomizes the bright-eyed youth of 14-year-old Emmett, showcasing the naive innocence of not understanding the wrath of racism, violence, and hate that awaited him en route from Chicago to down south. Rightfully so, Chukwu chose to leave out the violent visual actions of what Till endured, which made the story no less easy to swallow. Viewers were shown the after effects of what the world saw when Emmett’s body was finally recovered.

In real life, Emmett Till’s young body was horrifically mutilated by dragging Till from the back of a pickup truck before having his remains discarded in the Tallahatchie River. You didn’t need to see these visuals to understand Emmett’s pain and the terror this caused the Black community; the actual visuals of what occurred after his kidnapping were omitted from the film. Chukwu still was able to translate that pain to the screen through the journey of Mamie and her love for her son Emmett. She helped tell the story of loss and outrage through one women’s courage and the anger from the community. We saw images of a mother cowering over her son in disbelief that humans were capable of such hate and rage. Who, in turn, quickly decides to have an open casket for her son because, as Mamie stated, “Let the world see what I’ve seen…No one would believe me if I told them,” regarding what she had just witnessed and how badly Emmett’s body was violated. 

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the people of Montgomery, Alabama a few months after Emmett’s funeral when he stated what happened to Till was “one of the most brutal and inhuman crimes of the twentieth century.”

Till-Mobley was already a remarkable woman of strength even prior to her son’s murder; she was the only Black woman working for the Air Force in Chicago and a widowed single mother to Emmett. Mamie also gave the exclusive rights to Jet magazine to publish the images of Emmett’s mutilated body, which caused the lynching to garner global attention. Her decisions in her son’s case made her a central part of the Civil Rights Movement as she became an activist for the NAACP. Three months after Emmett’s murder, Rosa Parks refused to be removed from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and she later explained to Mamie that Emmett’s story fueled her decision to remain seated.

Chinonye stated, “The crux of this story is not about the traumatic, physical violence inflicted upon Emmett – which is why I refused to depict such brutality in the film – but it is about Mamie’s remarkable journey in the aftermath. She is grounded by the love for her child, for at its core, Till is a love story. Amidst the inherent pain and heartbreak, it was critical for me to ground their affection throughout the film. The cinematic language and tone of Till was deeply rooted in the balance between loss in the absence of love; the inconsolable grief in the absence of joy; and the embrace of Black life alongside the heart-wrenching loss of a child.” 

Chukwu’s words and depiction of Mamie and Emmett’s story still ring true today in our social and political climate. One can easily see how things haven’t changed much in the United States in regard to race. Cases like the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers or the story of Ahmaud Arbery being hunted down, shot, and killed by several white men in a pickup truck while jogging in recent years have caused many to pause at the continued injustice. Yet, the victim’s families and the Black community continue to persevere and are unwavering in our plight to carry out justice. 

Till was beautifully shot in some instances with cascading cotton fields hauntingly reflected in a mother’s pain while driving through Mississippi. The muted but also vibrant colors of this film were a true reflection of the time period. The wardrobe and set design didn’t miss a detail in its depiction of the south in 1955. Composer Abel Korzeniowski’s score complimented the emotion in this film with its own deeper layers, and Denise Tunnell, the Makeup Department Head for Till, did a phenomenal job at making the cast look beautiful and dewy opposed to the matte look that was popular during that time. Deaundra Metzger was the Key Hair Stylist, and the hair was simply remarkable, capturing the elegance that these real life people maintained effortlessly even in grief.

Till‘s writers include Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, and Chinonye Chukwu. Keith Beauchamp, p.g.a., Barbara Broccoli, p.g.a., Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly, and Frederick Zollo, p.g.a. produced the film, and it was executive produced by Preston Holmes and Chinonye Chukwu.

As the widow of the late activist Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers-Williams, stated at the Los Angeles Premiere, “Till is a film we must share with future generations.” We must tell Emmett’s history so that we do not repeat it. 

Till is set for theatrical release by MGM’s Orion Pictures in select theaters on October 14, 2022, followed by a nationwide release on October 28. Watch the official trailer below.