Jackson Free Press

You'd be forgiven for thinking "Money 1955: The Emmett Till Murder Trial" is a documentary, given that the trial marked the start of the Civil Rights Movement. But as it turns out, the film—produced and directed by Rob Underhill—is a short true-crime film based on court transcripts from the trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, the men who killed Till.

If you need a brush-up on your civil rights history, the story goes that Till had flirted with a local grocery store owner named Carolyn, Bryant's wife. After catching wind of what had happened, Milam and Bryant dragged Till into a barn and beat him, shot him, tied a cotton-gin fan around his neck and then threw him into the river.

At the insistence of his mother, Till's casket remained open at his funeral so the world could see how brutally he was murdered. Milam and Roy were tried and acquitted in 1955, but admitted later on in a magazine interview that they had, in fact, killed him.

While short, the film creates an amazing portrayal of the trial. Mike Wiley, who has starred in "True Blood, "Holes" and "DAR HE: The Lynching of Emmett Till," plays all 20 roles in the film. Wiley's range as an actor is evident, as he portrays such roles in the trial as Till's mother Mamie Carthan, Carolyn Bryant and Sheriff Strider. He plays both African American and white characters with ease. Though the film portrays the trial with grace, he blurs the lines between people so well that it conveys the message that we're all the same underneath our skin tone.

"Money 1955: The Emmett Till Murder Trial" screens at 1:10 p.m. April 5 on Screen B, along with "Life, Liberty 
and Resilience."