12 Movies Challenge: 'Till'

by Julian Spivey
In December I saw something called the “12 Movies Challenge” on Facebook. The premise was that you would have 12 months to watch 12 movies recommended by 12 friends. I don’t often participate in such social media challenges but being a movie buff I felt this might be an interesting way to get out of my comfort zone a bit when it comes to watching movies.

My Facebook buds gave me some films that I’ve been meaning to watch and I pretty much front-loaded those on the list – though not explicitly stated in the challenge rules I am opting to watch one film a month.

A Best Picture winner like “Out of Africa” is an obvious choice for me to get to at some point – that point is now going to be March of this year. But there are certain movies I’m not really looking forward to all that much – I’m looking at you “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” my August selection. Then there’s the acclaimed stuff that isn’t really up my alley like the anime feature “Spirited Away,” which I’ve scheduled for November. That will truly be me getting out of my comfort zone.

Here are the 12 movies recommended to me and the months I’ve assigned myself to watch them:
 
January: “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983)
February: “Till” (2022)
March: “Out of Africa” (1985)
April: “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006)
May: “Legally Blonde” (2001)
June: “The Birdcage” (1996)
July: “Morning Glory” (2010)
August: “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” (1966)
September: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)
October: “Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975)
November: “Spirited Away” (2001)
December: “The Last Laugh” (1924) 

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Photo: Universal Pictures

Second on my year of movie recommendations is “Till” (2022) - recommended by my friend Taylor.
 
I scheduled the film for February because I figured it would make a good Black History Month viewing and it certainly does - if you’re not too familiar with the story of Emmett Till and Mamie Till - blame your poor local education - but please watch this. It can currently be rented on Amazon Prime Video for $5.99.
 
There’s been controversy surrounding a couple of the Best Actress Oscar nominees for next month’s Academy Awards taking the place of a performance like Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till - and while I haven’t seen most of those other nominees to feel able to give an “it’s better than those” opinion I can say unequivocally that Deadwyler’s performance is Oscar-worthy. The entire film relies upon her performance.
 
Early last year I watched the ABC miniseries “Women of the Movement” (which is a horrible title that I’m sure the network hoped would become a series about important women) and it told the story of Mamie Till in the time after her son’s lynching in Mississippi in 1955. Because of that series, I knew most of what was going to happen in “Till,” which after seeing the miniseries seems like a condensed version. Watching “Women of the Movement” probably hurt the overall film-watching experience of “Till.” That isn’t meant to take anything away from director Chinonye Chukwu’s film. It’s well made for sure with an amazing lead performance from Deadwyler. Please watch it and learn about how a mom’s bravery in the face of losing her son in such a horrific way helped some in this country see how brutal and disturbing racism and hatred can be.
 
This is probably paraphrased but there’s a line from Mamie Till around the midway point of the film that says: “My son is dead and she is fine. Carolyn Bryant is going to be fine.” Carolyn Bryant is the woman who started the whole ordeal by lying to her husband about what Emmett said/did to her (which was frankly shown in more detail in the ABC miniseries).
 
You think history is all old stuff?
 
Carolyn Bryant is still alive today - more than 65 years after the murder of Emmett Till she effectively caused. She’s 89 and living a free life and she had the ability to marry and have a family.
 
Just Friday (February 10) news came out about how a family member of Emmett Till just filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have an arrest warrant recently found for Carolyn Bryant that has gone unserved for decades served. As long as she is still alive (something she should’ve resolved on her own years ago) justice should still be served. She didn’t deserve a long life with a family that Emmett Till was stripped from having.