It's dense with information, and it moves fast. But it's also a story told in images, and the ones DuVernay has chosen ring not just with sadness and horror but also cautious optimism. If it's wrenching to see the face of Emmett Till in his casket, swollen and defiled, there's joy in the photographs that accompany the closing credits, images of black family life in America from the late 19th century to today, as it ought to be and sometimes has been.
Stephanie Zacharek
October 13, 2016