"They're lucky that black people are looking for equality and not revenge".
-Kimberly Latrice Jones, following the uproar/protests due to the murder of George Floyd in 2020
When I think back a lot on my life, I think a lot about how I have responded to the idea of "revenge" towards people who deserve it.
Even to this day, despite having grown out of the conservative upbringing I had and embracing a leftist (or should I say, "woke") ideology, I still have a very strong attachment to the idea of bad people getting the comeuppance they deserve.
When I think of the story of Emmett Till, one of the most infuriating and despicable aspects is that the two men who abducted and murdered him, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were acquitted. That isn't to say that it was unexpected...it was the south in the 1950s... all-white jury. Of course, they were going to let them go free.
In 1992, Till's mother Mamie had the opportunity to listen to Roy Bryant speak about his involvement in her son's lynching to which he said "Emmett Till is dead. I don't know why he can't just stay dead" and further elaborated that the whole situation ruined his life.
Bryant died of cancer in 1994, while Milam had died of natural causes in 1980.
In case you aren't aware, Bryant and Milam murdered Till because the wife of Bryant, Carolyn (who is still alive by the way as of this writing approaching 90 years of age). She claimed that Till whistled at her and was trying to sexualize her.
There is often a debate over the morality of fighting violence with violence...and perhaps this makes me a bad leftist, but I am left truly appalled by the fact that these two men faced no serious repercussions for what they did prior to their deaths.
They both deserved a miserable life...and I sincerely hope they all suffered in their illnesses. As for Carolyn Bryant, she also deserves a special place in hell and I do feel shame that a Grand Jury did not further proceed with an indictment last August.
The story of Emmett Till is one of many, many, many, many grave injustices that have occurred in this country towards the African American community. Everyone should know this story, everyone should learn more about the life of Mamie Till-Mobley, everyone should see the pictures of Emmett Till's body just as his mother wished for the country to do.
I hate our country in many ways...and the sad truth is so much of what is infuriating about this actual event is still highly relevant in today's society.
So, having said that, is making a movie about this story coming perilously close to being exploitative?
Is making a movie like this similar to that of making a mini-series about Jeffrey Dahmer or a movie focused on the horrors of the Holocaust?
I do have my own opinions about the Dahmer miniseries (which, ugh...typical Ryan Murphy schlock...), but Till is a movie that I think is highly important, but it also walks a very precarious tight rope.
Not all movies need to be feel-good experiences, so I do appreciate that a movie such as this does exist.
However, I found Till to be a movie that did dive into making you feel disturbed and upset about the act, but it also tried so hard to be a movie that wanted to be very polished and uplifting by the end...and for this to be a very Hollywoodized movie was a WRONG choice.
Who exactly is this movie for?
Do we really think that any racist white person sitting in the south...or anywhere...is going to sit down and watch this movie and, better yet, suddenly change their minds?
A movie like Till, despite the great efforts of Mamie Till-Mobley as an activist following these events, should not make you feel uplifted at the end.
The film ends with an intertitle celebrating the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which only recently got passed by Congress.
Obviously, yes...it is great that such a bill exists...but should we really be celebrating that it took nearly 70 years after the events of the film for this bill to be passed?
Writer/Director Chinonye Chukwu did state in an interview that she really didn't want to "re-traumatize" audiences but wanted to take them on an emotional journey through Mamie and had hoped to show the "joy and love at the root of the narrative.".
Despite her intentions seeming sincere, I just don't think I can fully get behind this movie as a source of entertainment. I can fully understand why many in the African American community are opposed to seeing it because it just feels like it is digging up the turmoil that didn't need to be dug up. If anything, I am not even sure you could say this was buried to begin with...we are STILL dealing with these kinds of horrendous stories to this day.
The movie was successful at making me feel uncomfortable in the moments where it needed to, but I also felt uncomfortable in the uplifting shifts it took as it progressed...and that in turn made me feel even more uncomfortable.
Imagine if they made a movie about the murder of Matthew Shepard where we really dug into the night of its occurrence (even if we don't see Till's murder occur onscreen, just from a distance with some of the sound). Shepard's death was because he was gay...and for anyone who is reading this who identifies as LGBTQ+, can you honestly say you'd want to see THAT as a movie?
Sure, we have The Laramie Project but that focused a lot on the aftermath...and yes, so does Till but I think even The Laramie Project, despite its importance, also walked a similar precarious tightrope.
There you have it. I think the film is rather erratic in how it presents itself, and I question if we truly needed to see the bulk of its subject matter depicted.
Through it all, however, is Danielle Deadwyler.
If there is any reason for you to see this movie, it is her performance.
The story of Emmett Till needs to be known, but I am not sure it needed to be in this manner. Deadwyler manages to hold a lot of it together due to immense commitment to the dark emotions she needs to convey.
I think it is a crime that she is not more seriously in the awards discussion, but I think a lot of that falls on the content of the film itself...and there is the Catch-22.
I do have issues with the film, but there is no denying the truly magnificent and emotionally charged performance of Danielle Deadwyler.
She truly elevated the film, no question.
RATING: ***
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