Film Review No. 2: Another Should-Be Oscar Nomination 'Till'
I hate that the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite is still trending in 2023
Have we not learned anything over the past few years, decades, centuries? Clearly not, or else a film as cinematically perfect as ‘Till’ would not have been left out of the nominees at this year’s Academy Awards.
Till is a biopic, although not as glamorous as nominees Elvis, Blonde, or The Fablemans, it tells a very important and historically relevant story. Emmett Louis Till was a 14 year old boy who grew up in the ‘comfortable’ Chicago suburbs during the 1940s and 50s. I say comfortable, because the truth is it was not comfortable but just more comfortable than parts of the county south of the Mason Dixon line in the United States during segregation. While the film is titled Till it is primarily a film about his mother Mamie played by Danielle Deadwyler. The film is directed by Chinoye Chukwu and includes Whoopi Goldberg as an actress and producer alongside some powerful producers like Barbara Broccoli (famous for the James Bond franchise).
When you only know love, you know no fear.
Mamie allows Bo (nickname for Emmett) to visit his cousins in the South in Mississippi. Just after the title sequence, the audience is following a train as it presumably heads south from Chicago where Bo boarded it. He receives a tap on the shoulder, “Son it’s time to move” and a baffled Bo follows people filing down the aisle. We see all the characters seated are white, we cannot tell for certain if all of the characters shuffling down the aisle are black or white but it’s apparent the train is not stopping. The scene transitions before we know if this was a nod to racial divide, presumably once the train crossed into The South or if Bo’s stop was approaching. It leaves the audience with the same uneasiness that begins from the start of the film.
The film has little time with Bo, but we do get a sense of the gift his mother gave him growing up naive to the injustice that so many others faced. His happy, bubbly, bumbling demeanour foreshadow too free of a spirit to stay free. This is based on the true story of Emmett Till’s brutal lynching, and holds back no punches. It is the first time in a long time I have heard the N word spoken on camera. After Mamie learns of Bo’s death, she is encouraged to go to the NAACP legal office and the conversation held sounded to me more like the extradition plan of a citizen held captive in a foreign country, not another state.
This film is a lot to take in, but production design lends itself to allow the audience to stay put in their seats and pay attention. Long panning wide shots show impeccably kept homes filled with period furniture pieces and patterns that create comfortable environments to witness an uncomfortable story.
This is not a cliche law drama, if that’s what you’re looking for then I suggest you binge stream any of the over-serialised series available. What you won’t find in those law series that is apparent in this film are the nuanced racial divides - the unreturned handshakes in the courtroom, the male, pale, and stale jury, or how all of the black characters run for their lives as a white child fires a toy gun. All of the white characters act as if there was nothing to fear from a child.
In this film, Mamie’s character believed justice would neither be fulfilled or unfulfilled based on the judicial verdict. Justice would come from the relentless campaign fought outside the courts. This film is the story of that fight, and done with dignity, grace, beauty, horror, and incredible production quality.
My recommendation: I really struggled to accept this was not nominated, to me it had every quality of an award winning film. I encourage you to watch it, maybe with tissues and a heavy heart but please do.
Food to watch with: To be honest, you may not want to watch this film with food. But if you do, I’d recommend to consider a Chicago pizza or learning more about American Southern food. I recommend Son of a Southern Chef by Lazarus Lynch.
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