My Nephew Emmett

The camera rests for long stretches on the face of LB Williams, who plays Mose Wright, the uncle of Emmett Till, and we sit and watch what he knows and we know is coming, but can't fully articulate it. Or, if he can, it's such a wretched and terrible thing to contemplate. But those moments he's in the bathtub, or sitting up in bed, or on the couch, that's what makes up the heavy emotional weight of this all-too-short but necessary portrait of what happened when 14 year old (a child!) Emmett from Chicago whistled at a white woman and had the temerity to say "Hey, baby" in 1955 in what might as well have been a third-world country but was called Money, Mississippi.

As soon as I saw the title and even saw the face of Mose Wright, I knew the story beforehand, but the remarkable thing is how much the filmmaker makes this a quiet film leading up to the white men practically busting through Wright's front door to take a sleeping Emmett Till out to be "taught a lesson". It carries that same fire and terror in those minutes that Bigelow's Detroit had, and no less a potent look at: yes, this happened, and it continues to happen. The quality of the acting, the camerawork, the sense of pacing, the music, it's all stellar and while emotional it earns every stroke is done through the subject matter but also that the sincerity isn't false. This could have been more like Parker's Birth of a Nation, but I think Kevin Wilson Jr has a more subtle approach than that, even in the biggest moments.

I don't think though the end of the film leaves one in total despair; when Mose Wright steps out of his house, this being the three days after this main event happens in the dead of night and he identifies the corpse of Emmett Till, he goes in front of the camera to tell what he saw. It may not be much, but Wright not stepping away showed bravery on his part, even if it was after the fact... no, precisely *because* it was after it, while still in Money, where he could have had his life threatened again, for whatever reason. From My Nephew Emmett the core of this isn't that there's evil in the world but that there is some good, or at least not shying away from the bad, that makes up the best of us.

Powerful story, and one that's well told here. One of the great things about telling it from the uncle's perspective is that the feeling of dread and powerlessness is amplified. Imagine laying there in the dark of night, listening for someone who may come, wondering what cruelty might be committed. We see who Emmett Till was from his perspective - just a kid, an innocent kid. Like other young men, he's interested in having fun and flirting with women, but not in a menacing way. There is a quietness about the film that goes well with the pain of subjugation in the Jim Crow south. The inclusion of the archival footage is also brilliant.

Greetings again from the darkness. Racism is a global issue touching every continent and most every town. Never is it more powerful or disheartening than when presented as the story of one person or family. Kevin Wilson Jr's short film dramatizes the true story from 1955 when 14 year old Emmett Till from Chicago visited his Uncle Mose in Mississippi.

Told from the perspective of Uncle Mose (a terrific LB Williams), there are a couple of haunting images and moments. When a neighbor mentions to Mose that Emmett (Joshua Wright) had whistled at the wife of a white townsperson, Mose immediately knows trouble is coming. The image of this proud man unable to find peace in a rare bath, and then assuming a position of sentry in the middle of the night, is fascinating and terribly sad to anyone with a shred of humanity.

The film exemplifies personal terror in its rawest form. Most of us can't relate to living in constant fear, but this well-studied incident has remained in the forefront of civil rights history for more than 60 years. It's chilling to see the final clip of the real Mose delivering his statement on camera so long ago. It's a wonderful short film with lasting impact.

'MY NEPHEW EMMETT': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A 20-minute short film about the attempted abduction, by two white men, of a 14-year-old African-American boy, who's also the nephew of a respected African-American preacher, from his home in 1955 Mississippi. The boy was accused of whistling at a white woman, and it becomes obvious that he'll most certainly be killed if the white men take him. The short was written and directed by Kevin Wilson Jr., and it stars L.B. Williams, Joshua Wright, Jasmine Guy and Dane Rhodes. This short is a retelling of a classic history lesson (which I had forgotten the outcome of). It's well made, educational and moving. It's also decently acted, and the cinematography is beautiful too at times.

A big part of American history remains under-told to this day. This is a particularly tragic and senseless incident. The film puts you in that world and shows you that world from the perspective of the victims of racism. It is agonizing to watch, because we know the outcome, but important for all of us to see and to feel.

And BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED! (Full disclosure: the cinematographer, Laura Valladao, is my nephew's wife.)