Till covers the death of Emmett Till who allegedly flirted with a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi.
At just 14 years old, Emmett visits his cousins for a holiday and helps with some cotton picking on the local farm. He’s a confident boy from Chicago who loves a good prank and singing.
But the community is run by unspoken laws of the Jim Crow South.
After visiting a shop and upsetting the owner, Till is dragged from his bed and taken away. A couple of days later, his body is found floating in the river with a gunshot wound to the head and ample bruises.
There are several witnesses to the crime and his killers are identified. However, when the court case happens with an all-white all-male jury – it’s not going to be a fair sentence.
Mamie, Till’s mother has the strength to view his body in the morgue and then give evidence in court. She’s the only one able to identify his body. She recognizes the importance of sharing Till’s story and receives financial backing.
The funeral scene focuses on the open casket and the crowd walking past. It’s harrowing and I thought the wailing was too much, and instead, it would have been nice to hear people talk more about Till.
Till is a difficult film to watch and there’s a real sense of injustice. Rather it’s about creating awareness about the issues and the Black community supporting each other to demand change.
About Till
Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world. #TillMovie
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Writers: Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, and Chinonye Chukwu
Producers: Keith Beauchamp, p.g.a., Barbara Broccoli, p.g.a., Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly and Frederick Zollo, p.g.a.
Executive Producers: Preston Holmes, Chinonye Chukwu
Music By: Abel Korzeniowski
Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Whoopi Goldberg, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Haley Bennett
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