THE CULTURE
All About Media, the Arts and Sports
FILM REVIEW: TILL A Modern Masterpiece of Social Justice
By Stephen G. Hall, PhD
This film is rated PG-13, and parents are strongly cautioned, that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. The murder of Emmett Till has proven over the years to be an enduring take on humankind’s injustice to one another. This inhumanity has not gone unnoticed or unanswered by African Americans. Agitation against lynching and other forms of extrajudicial justice against African Americans has always been particularly important to black women, especially black mothers. The daring exploits of Ida B. Wells, who brought attention through her writings and activism in the late 19th century to the gruesome practice of lynching and it’s connection to white supremacy and notions of pure white femininity, are well-known. Wells, a mother, business owner and tireless advocate for black progress, understood what was at stake and broadcasted her findings to the world. The Scottsboro mothers, the mothers of nine teenagers and young men falsely accused of raping two white women on a boxcar near
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Scottsboro, Ala., in the 1930s, galvanized national and international opinion to highlight the plight of their sons. Mamie Till-Mobley, rather than an anomaly, followed in the footsteps of her foremothers and in doing so memorialized her son for the ages. The movie Till captures the essence of a mother and child’s relationship and in doing so earns a 5-star rating. At the center of the film are two defining elements: first, the tenacity of a mother to preserve the memory of her son, and, second, the desire to humanize an African American child and to demonstrate that he was a human being deserving of respect and honor and that his life mattered— Black Lives Matter. These two elements are constantly on display throughout the film. Led by a strong cast featuring Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till, Sean Patrick Thomas as Gene Mobley, Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till, Whoopi Goldberg and Frankie Faison as Till’s grandparents, John Douglas Thompson as Mose Wright, and Keisha Tillis as Elizabeth Wright, this movie thrills with potent realism and deep empathy with Till’s murder and the structural racism that engenders it. The quality of the acting exceeds the
standard cinematic experience. Here, given the strength of the cast, it seems more like an onstage play. The character development is rich and deep, and each character comes alive in vivid and vibrant ways. Another example of the film’s potent realism is Mamie’s testimony during the murder trial in Mississippi. She travels to Mississippi with her father. She meets Medgar Evers played by Tosin Cole and journeys to Mound Bayou, an all-black town in the Delta founded by Isaiah Montgomery in the aftermath of the Civil War. While there, Mamie stays with T.R.M. Howard, a black physician, prominent civil rights leader, and founder in the 1950s of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, who is ably portrayed by veteran film and stage actor Roger Guenveur Smith. Howard paid all of Mamie’s expenses and lodged not only her but other black participants in the trial at his home. Here we see the underpinnings of civil rights activism in Mississippi. Howard’s home is spacious and surrounded by armed guards. He also escorted Mamie and others in caravans with heavily armed guards from the courthouse and back to his home during the trial. Howard’s home/compound was ground zero for the African American fight for civil
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