STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
The year is 1955. Black teenager Emmett Till (Jaylyn Hall) is a charismatic young man, who is preparing to travel from Chicago to Mississippi to meet some relatives. His steely mother Marnie (Danielle Deadwyler) is concerned, telling him as a young black man he must be careful how he conducts himself down South, and he cannot behave the same way as in his hometown. Emmett enjoys his trip without incident, until he has an encounter with shop worker Carolyn Bennett (Haley Bennett), which leads to his brutal lynching. Devastated, Marnie makes her way down south to lead a dignified but determined campaign for justice for her boy, which leads on to greater things in the rise of the civil rights movement.
The history of slavery, segregation and oppression holds a vast swathe of stories that truly reveal the dark underbelly of American history, and indeed history in general, that shatter the proud veneer that the world likes to soak itself in. The story of Emmett Till, whose brutalised, distorted body in death was used for powerful effect by his mother on the front cover of a prominent publication at the time to wake America up to the true horror of racism is a truly significant one, that deserves an on screen telling, which has arrived in this lengthy, thorough dramatisation, that largely slipped under the radar in its January release on these shores.
In his inevitably limited screen time, young actor Jalyn Hall certainly makes an impression as Emmett, truly bringing him alive and making him more than just a name under a headline, a lively, energetic individual, whose cocksure humour would either rub off on you, or brush you up the wrong way. But it is Deadwyler in the lead role, who must commandeer the entire story, and she turns in a powerful, transfixing performance, as a woman saddled with grief and rage, who must compose herself and remain respectable in order to ensure a chance for justice for her son. The rawness of her emotions, and the power of her delivery add a solid extra depth to the proceedings. In a supporting role, Bennett also creates an impression as Bryant, the young woman whose false accusations against Emmett led to his slaying, conveying a cold iciness in the courtroom in the face of Marnie's tough struggle. Special mention should also go to Tosin Cole in a support role as chauffeur Medgar Evars, who would also go on to be a key player in the civil rights struggle, and whose own posthumous murder would be the subject of the 1996 courtroom thriller Ghosts of Mississippi.
It is said that if history makes you feel comfortable, you are not studying real history but propaganda, and Till is certainly not a tale that will leave you feeling happy and content with the world. But it is a powerful, stirring drama, with affecting performances and a stirring delivery, and sadly far from the only such tale of its kind. ****
The year is 1955. Black teenager Emmett Till (Jaylyn Hall) is a charismatic young man, who is preparing to travel from Chicago to Mississippi to meet some relatives. His steely mother Marnie (Danielle Deadwyler) is concerned, telling him as a young black man he must be careful how he conducts himself down South, and he cannot behave the same way as in his hometown. Emmett enjoys his trip without incident, until he has an encounter with shop worker Carolyn Bennett (Haley Bennett), which leads to his brutal lynching. Devastated, Marnie makes her way down south to lead a dignified but determined campaign for justice for her boy, which leads on to greater things in the rise of the civil rights movement.
The history of slavery, segregation and oppression holds a vast swathe of stories that truly reveal the dark underbelly of American history, and indeed history in general, that shatter the proud veneer that the world likes to soak itself in. The story of Emmett Till, whose brutalised, distorted body in death was used for powerful effect by his mother on the front cover of a prominent publication at the time to wake America up to the true horror of racism is a truly significant one, that deserves an on screen telling, which has arrived in this lengthy, thorough dramatisation, that largely slipped under the radar in its January release on these shores.
In his inevitably limited screen time, young actor Jalyn Hall certainly makes an impression as Emmett, truly bringing him alive and making him more than just a name under a headline, a lively, energetic individual, whose cocksure humour would either rub off on you, or brush you up the wrong way. But it is Deadwyler in the lead role, who must commandeer the entire story, and she turns in a powerful, transfixing performance, as a woman saddled with grief and rage, who must compose herself and remain respectable in order to ensure a chance for justice for her son. The rawness of her emotions, and the power of her delivery add a solid extra depth to the proceedings. In a supporting role, Bennett also creates an impression as Bryant, the young woman whose false accusations against Emmett led to his slaying, conveying a cold iciness in the courtroom in the face of Marnie's tough struggle. Special mention should also go to Tosin Cole in a support role as chauffeur Medgar Evars, who would also go on to be a key player in the civil rights struggle, and whose own posthumous murder would be the subject of the 1996 courtroom thriller Ghosts of Mississippi.
It is said that if history makes you feel comfortable, you are not studying real history but propaganda, and Till is certainly not a tale that will leave you feeling happy and content with the world. But it is a powerful, stirring drama, with affecting performances and a stirring delivery, and sadly far from the only such tale of its kind. ****