Movie: 'Till' is a gripping tale of the power of a mother's love

As the haunting “Till” begins, Mamie Till-Mobley is a mother like any other, stressed and anxious about sending her fun-loving 14-year-old alone on a big trip. She buys him shoes and a wallet. They sing along in the car to the Moonglows’ “Sincerely.”

She’s apprehensive. “We’ve never been apart this long.”

Mamie straightens her “Bobo’s” tie, packs his suitcase, pausing every so often to give serious advice: “Be small down there.”

By “there,” she means Jim Crow Mississippi, where Emmett will spend the summer with relatives.

By “small,” she means, be extra careful. White people in rural Money are a particularly dangerous breed.

By now, almost 67 years later, the story of what happened to Emmett Till is known in all its gruesome detail. The young Black teenager from Chicago − Mamie’s only child − was abducted, beaten, tortured, shot in the head and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.  All because he supposedly flirted with a white woman (Haley Bennett).

Emmett (Jalyn Hall) didn’t have an iPhone to capture video clips of his murder, allegedly at the hands of two white men who were acquitted by an all-male, all-white jury. But he did have a mother, and she’s a force of nature. Mamie stands by her child and will not rest until she makes sure the whole world sees “what they did to my boy.”  How Mamie helps galvanize the civil rights movement, along with her relentless pursuit of justice, is the basis for director Chinonye Chukwu’s gripping historical drama. Get ready to ugly cry.

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Chukwu (“Clemency”), working from a script she co-wrote with Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp, focuses on Mamie. We see the events unfold through her eyes, rendering “Till” a wrenching portrait of a mother’s love. As Mamie, Danielle Deadwyler (“The Harder They Fall”) commands attention throughout, serving as the emotional anchor. Initially, Mamie is grief-stricken, then shocked, then determined to facilitate social change. And Deadwyler nails it every time. Most memorable is the moment Mamie touches her son’s swollen corpse, tracing every inch of his bludgeoned face. It is then that she insists on leaving the casket open for “America to bear witness.”

Later, as the movie shifts into courtroom drama, Chukwu’s camera is focused squarely on Mamie’s face as Deadwyler lets loose with an avalanche of emotion. She assures the packed courthouse that the boy she buried was indeed her son. It looks as if Deadwyler is having an out-of-body experience, quaking, eyes rolled back, streaming tears and snot. It’s a doozy of a scene you won’t soon forget. But what lingers most is how, six decades later, justice has yet to be served. Mamie doesn’t stick around for the outcome of the trial because,  “I know the verdict already,” she tells her lawyer.

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Deadwyler is a lock for an Oscar nomination, but she benefits from fine supporting turns by Frankie Faison (“Do the Right Thing”) as Mamie’s father; Sean Patrick Thomas (“Save the Last Dance”) as her fiance; Whoopi Goldberg as her mother; and John Douglas Thomson as her Uncle Moses. Marci Rodgers' costumes enhance the narrative, as the wardrobe cycles through a variety of palettes, beginning in bright pinks and yellows before giving way to much darker shades of  mourning. Abel Korzeniowski crafts an evocative score, and there might be an original song nominee in Jazmine Sullivan and D’Mile’s “Stand Up.”

Any way you cut it, “Till” is a gut-punch, but there is also a lot of love in its devastation. Mothering never ends. And, sadly, neither has Mamie’s fight for justice.

'Till'

Rating: PG-13 for thematic content involving racism, strong disturbing images and racial slurs

Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett and Whoopi Goldberg

Director: Chinonye Chukwu

Writers: Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp and Chinonye Chukwu

Running time: 130 minutes

Where to watch: In South Shore theaters Friday

Grade: A-

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Film review: 'Till' is a gripping tale of the power of a mother's love