The story of the murder of Emmett Till did not end with the death of the young man in 1955. Not even with that of his mother, Mamie Bradley, in 2003. The case was reopened in 2004 and this 2022 premieres a movie, Till: justice for my son that seeks to delve into the story of the mother of a child murdered because of his skin color, since even, almost 70 years after the crime, it could have a fairer resolution.
One of the strongest dialogues in the film is the one in which Bo’s mother, as she affectionately called him, responds to the injustice she is witnessing in court that will set her son’s attackers free: “They killed him again ».
It is true that the 14-year-old suffered a lynching, torture and the loss of his life, but the suffering did not end there. The pain continues to live in those who remain. The movie Till: justice for my son focuses on what the mother experienced from before her son traveled to Mississippi to visit his cousins and even the lawsuits she lost while fighting for justice for her son’s murder.
Unlike other films based on true events, this film directed by Chinonye Chukwu does not seek to spend the entire film reconstructing the crime and generating tension. Although it forms a large part of the opening, the focus of this director is on the fight of Mamie Bradley.
Going deeper into this part of the story encourages us to know and connect intensely with Mamie Till. She begins to feel fear (completely rational) that her son will travel to a state in the United States where whites kill blacks under any pretext. And, though she tries to assuage her worry, her bad feelings come true. A woman accuses her daughter of harassing her husband, who kidnaps the young man, tortures him in complicity with her brother, and kills him by shooting him in the head.
The movie Till: justice for my son accurately portrays the events as they happened. However, going so deep into the mother’s concern before the trip could disappoint those who hope to learn more about the crime.
Till: justice for my son, the true story of the movie
As the film portrays it, Mamie Bradley made several controversial decisions after her son’s murder that led to new laws protecting her human rights. To get the spotlight of the media around the world on Emmett’s case, she shared the true story of what happened with several journalists to whom she showed the teenager’s disfigured corpse during the funeral.
Despite the fact that for her it meant opening a wound to the world and as she shows Till: justice for my sonIt was a very difficult process, public opinion came to turn against her, labeling her as an opportunist and tabloids.
This movie doesn’t have many features that make it stand out among other crime films based on true events. Except for an extraordinary sequence in which he shows a comparison of the lives of blacks and whites, but it is a way of keeping alive this story in which Mamie Bradley had the leading role that has not been sufficiently applauded.
Susana Guzman De la O Writing and cinema are my greatest loves. I admire Tarkovski, but I cry every time I see Up.