DVD REVIEW: Danielle Deadwyler brings history down to basics with ‘Till’ performance

Danielle Deadwyler, an ideal choice for Best Actress, shows how truly strong the bonds between mother and son are.

When her boy (beautifully played by Jalyn Hall) is murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi, she doesn’t want to mourn in private. She wants others to see what happened to that innocent 14-year-old.

The way Deadwyler makes it resonate for everyone is much of the strength of Chinonye Chukwu’s film.

Here, we see how Eisenhower-esque Mamie and Emmett are. Living in Chicago, they’re happy to be enjoying a middle-class life.

Emmett plans to visit relatives in the South. But before he does, mom buys him a wallet and, at the department store, we get a taste of the prejudice that will soon flow like a river. Chukwu gives other examples of racism and shows how life wasn’t as normalized as some make think.

Emmett encounters a different world in Mississippi and becomes the target of those who don’t appreciate integration. Kidnapped, tortured and murdered, he’s thrown in a river and considered just another statistic.

Mamie, however, is determined to let others see what they did to her son. Insisting on an open casket, she points up the brutality her son faced.

Chukwu doesn’t go for the sensational (avoiding scenes of the violence) or the hurt (we see the pain of Emmett’s death of the faces of those who loved him). But she doesn’t back away from confronting the problems that Mamie encountered. “Till” is history told in a way that people can understand. Remove the obvious and this is the story of a mother defending her son and looking for justice.

That’s where Deadwyler’s strength lies. She makes Mamie tower as a pillar of love. Even though others tried to undercut her actions, she stood as a mother unwilling to accept other’s actions.

Whoopi Goldberg slips in here as Mamie’s mother but even she can’t pull the focus. When Chukwu’s camera pulls back at the visitation, you can feel the family’s loss.

Hall, meanwhile, justifies why this mother was so determined to find justice. He embodies the life that was cut short.

While “Till” plays out like a TV movie (“Women of the Movement” was the name of the one that preceded this), It has its own power.

Look for Chukwu’s take to keep it at the front of conversations, particularly during Black History Month. And look for Deadwyler to be numbered among those who delivered the best performances of 2022.

“Till” hits the DVD market this week.