MOTHER COURAGE (TILL)

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According to the NAACP, an estimated 4,743 lynchings occurred in the US between 1882 and 1968.

While some people believe the figures were actually be higher, Mississippi still had the shameful distinction of having the highest number of lynchings (581), with Georgia not far behind (531) and Texas the next highest (431).

One of the most infamous cases of lynching in the US was that of Emmett Till.

A 14 year old African American boy from Chicago, he was abducted and tortured while visiting relatives near Money, Mississippi in 1955.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

His death would inspire the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act in Congress in 2022 which finally made lynching a hate crime.

The incident also is the subject of 'Till,' a motion picture by the Nigerian American director Chinonye Chukwu about the quest by Emmett's mother Mamie for justice.

Danielle Deadwyler turns in a powerhouse performance as Mamie in the film who insisted on an open casket at her son's funeral so the world could see the horrific injuries inflicted on Emmett.

At the start of the film scripted by Chukwu, Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp, Emmett is depicted as he was - a smart, loving and funny teenage boy surrounded by a family that adored him.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

A good humoured and intelligent kid, we see the closeness of Jalyn Hall's Emmett relationships with Mamie, with his maternal grandmother Whoopi Goldberg's Alma Carthan and Sean Patrick Thomas' Gene Mobley, a barber who is his mother's boyfriend and a surrogate father.

While Mamie frets over Emmett going to Mississippi to spend the summer on his uncle John Douglas Thompson's Mose 'Preacher' Wright's farm, Alma believes it will be a good thing for him to get to know his roots.

Dressing in his finest clothes to catch the train, Emmett tries to soothe his mum's nerves by grabbing a humourous dance with her to the sound of Dizzy Gillespie's 'He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped'.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

When Emmett arrives in Mississippi, Preacher sends him out to the cotton fields with his cousins to harvest the crop - a task he quickly tires of.

Heading into Money to unwind, he makes the mistake of going into a grocery store and complementing one of the white owners, Haley Bennett's Carolyn Bryant that she looks like a movie star.

Interpreting this as a slight, Mrs Bryant goes off to fetch a shotgun while her mostly African American clientele scatter.

The full consequences of Emmett's actions later become clear when a lynch mob turns up at the Wright family's farm, shunning offers of money to spare the boy.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

When his mutilated body is eventually found in the Tallahatchie River, it has a devastating impact on Mamie and her family.

Shocked by the state of his corpse when it returns to Chicago, Mamie insists on an open casket at his funeral.

She also allows a photographer to publish images of Emmett's body to demonstrate the evil visited upon her son.

When Sean Michael Weber's Roy Bryant and Eric Whitten's JW Milam are arrested and charged with Emmett's abduction and murder, Mamie and her estranged father Frankie Faison's John Carthan head to Mississippi for the trial.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

But as they pursue justice with the help of Kevin Carroll's NAACP activist Rayfield Mooty, Tosin Cole's Medgar Evars and Roger Guenver Smith's TRM Howard, they may as well be visiting another country.

'Till' is one of those real life stories of prejudice and injustice that naturally lends itself to being a powerful movie.

It really benefits from Chukwu's steady hand at the helm as she guides the audience the stormy waters of bigotry in the Deep South.

At the core of the film is Deadwyler's stirring BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice nominated performance which was bafflingly overlooked in this year's Oscar nominations.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

It's a masterclass in how to convey anguish, dignity and quiet rage, with Deadwyler brilliantly using her eyes to speak volumes.

While her portrayal of Mamie undeniably dominates proceedings, the film is bolstered by sturdy supporting performances from Hall, Goldberg, Faison, Thomas, Thompson, Carroll, Cole and Smith.

Cast as the villains, Bennett, Weber and Whitten are loathsome without veering too much towards pantomime villainy.

Brendan Patrick Connor's Sheriff Strider evokes memories of the bigoted law enforcement officers in Alan Parker's 'Mississippi Burning'.

© Universal Pictures & United Artists Releasing

That powerful Oscar nominated movie was blasted for its lack of African American lead characters and for perpetuating white saviour myths despite its honourable intentions.

'Till' is the exact opposite - viewing racism in 1950s Mississippi entirely from an African American perspective.

It's all the richer for that and it is very much helped by Bobby Bukowski's astute camera work and Ron Patane's editing. 

While the movie follows predictable beats for a racial injustice film, 'Till' is nonetheless a solid piece of work that achieves all that it wants.

The reason to see it is Deadwyler but by shining a light on a shameful aspect of American history it also does its homeland a huge service.

('Till' opened in UK and Irish cinemas on January 6, 2023)

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