Movies: The Woman King and Till

I am not putting these two movies in opposition to each other. I will do some comparison on the roles they fill.

I mentioned last week that I was delaying this post because I wanted to watch one more movie first. If anyone was wondering, that was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Dahomey Agojie had some influence on the Dora Milaje, and I didn't want to watch the movie and find all of these meaningful connections that would have made sense to mention.

That was not really an issue. I also finished The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with its own Dora Milaje cameo. For all three movies and the series, what I thought of most of was grief. That is never too far from my surface. I might write more about that later, but for now I am going to finish being mad at "The Actor".

One thing all three movies share is that they would be good for the actor to see. His inability to imagine a Black woman dressing elegantly and speaking with sophistication may indicate he has not watched enough films that were centered on anything other than white men.

The majority of the films that would have been available for his viewing -- especially as it pertains to his Oscar voting -- would center on white men. Some of his comments indicate an aversion to watching anything that doesn't center him, but I think that is a big part of how he became an ass. It's worth addressing.

The Woman King barely has any white men in it, even for villains. In Till there are friend groups and family and even a whole little town that are all Black. That is real life; Till is based on a true story, while The Woman King has a historical background, even if the story lines for the main characters are fictional. It is good to see that there is more to life than our own experience. It makes for a terribly small world if you won't.

Having watched them, I can see justification for at least nominating Gina Prince-Bythewood for Best Director, regardless of whether she would have won or not. (Honestly, I think having twice as many Best Picture nominees as Best Director nominees makes for some weird mixes.)

The case for a Best Picture nomination would be exciting action with clear cinematography, where everything could be tracked and comprehended. That includes some things that could have easily been too gratuitous if they were shot differently. One aspect of that -- which I only know from seeing a blurb -- is they did not really have a stunt pool at the filming location. Part of the preparation for the film included finding and training a stunt crew (which comprises most of the cast) from scratch. That is an accomplishment. Meanwhile, for as much sense as it makes to focus on the action, the film never loses its place emotionally.

I know there can be many arguments made for many movies, but there is a tendency to default toward the established white guys, and the 2023 nominations showed that. The overwhelming success of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once can belie that, but no, there hasn't really been that much done to counteract #OscarsSoWhite.

Of the two, The Woman King is a more enjoyable movie than Till, feeling more rousing and appealing to some unlikely audiences.

Till is probably more needed.

That's not a contest; we can see more than one movie per year. There are ways in which The Woman King is more fun, and everyone with any advance knowledge of Till can foresee that there will be emotional pain in the viewing. I want to take some time to make the case for Till.

Maybe the biggest argument is that Carolynn Bryant just died on April 25th. When I posted about "The Actor", she may not have been buried yet. This is our history, and fairly recent history at that. There are real people depicted in that movie that are still alive.

There is good directing here too. The cinematography is beautiful, and there is a mix of the subtle and the not. For example, Emmitt Till had a slight stutter. There is a scene where you can kind of hear it; it's not distracting, no one makes a big deal out of it, but you know.

When his mother first sees the body, there is no holding back. She had fainted earlier, learning that his body was found. As they arrive to view the body, a wheelchair is on hand, just in case. It is needed, not because she is unconscious, but because her wailing and sobbing is overpowering.

As uncomfortable as her grief is, that is our past, and there are too many examples that also make it our present.

Add Jordan Neely to that list.

Maybe what we most need to hear is something said by Mamie Till-Mobley at the end.

"One month ago I had a nice life in Chicago. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South, I said, 'That's their business; not mine.' Now I know what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all."

We need to know to not be complacent just because it isn't us this time.

I remember when the movie first came out, a white woman approached a Black woman telling her that she had to see this movie. The Black woman tweeted about seeing those pictures in Ebony, with them being regularly re-published. 

I think the other woman's motive was showing herself to be a good ally: "I saw that Black film! I got it!"

It's good that she saw it, because we are the ones that need to see it. And maybe it goes down easier hearing a Black woman warn against the complacency. There's a lot of room for improvement.

Till is a movie that can remind us. 

It does hurt.