When Till was in theaters, I had the chance to see it but I wasn’t in the mood for two hours of depression. So I went to see Triangle of Sadness instead… which suggests maybe just how depressing I figured Till would be. And, now that it’s on reasonably priced streaming rental, it very much was.

The film is about the real life death of Emmett Till, a young black Chicago teenager in 1955 who was visiting cousins in Mississippi. After complimenting a white woman, he’s rounded up and lynched. The rest of the film is about his mother dealing with his death and testifying in the trial (in the South).

The first half of this film is truly devastating… exactly the morass of sadness I was expecting. The sequence with the funeral and watching all the faces as they get a good look at the open casket was uniquely powerful. Tears were rolled. I thought this movie couldn’t get any “better”… and I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what “better” looked like in a flick so full of depression and righteous anger.

And the second half of the film? It’s pretty good. I felt the pacing was way off and, to be fair, it’s based on true events so if I was unsatisfied with the trial, that’s the point. But I felt they could have presented the inevitable mockery of justice a little more dramatically, a little more anger inducing-ly. Instead, it felt like surrender… which is what it had to be so the injustice could be rectified in time (which is something we do not see).

The end scene – while meant to be uplifting and redemptive – felt very emotionally corny to me. But I’m a monster… you might be moved by it.

So this is a surprising mixed bag after how strong the first half of the film was. It’s still a very good and very necessary movie to watch… It’s a well-produced, well-intentioned, and occasionally very powerful film. I wish I liked it more than I did.

Score: 84