Country: U.S.A.
Genre(s): Drama
Director: Robert
Mulligan
Cast: Gregory Peck
/ Mary Badham / Phillip Alford
Plot
Life in the Jim Crow
South is experienced through the eyes of a young white girl whose lawyer
father, Atticus Finch, accepts a case in defense of a black man unjustly
accused of raping a white woman.
What I Liked
“To Kill a
Mockingbird” is almost universally regarded as one of the finest motion
pictures America has ever produced for many reasons, but it mainly comes down
to this: like most timeless works, it works as popular entertainment, social
commentary, and universal art all at once.
Like the novel it is
based on, the film tells its tale almost exclusively through the eyes of a
child, that of the restless and curious tomboy Scout. This is the key to the film’s depth and
power. From an entertainment perspective,
we are able to experience that sense of wonder and adventure adults lose
somewhere during the growing up process.
By bringing the camera down to a child’s height, everything about the
world seems bigger, more fun, and at times more frightening. Most importantly, these scenes are never
overly sentimental; they are full of truth and meaning, setting the film apart
from films concerned only with nostalgia.
For Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill, every question or
dilemma becomes an excuse for investigation, exploration, and discovery, a
universal truth that magically resurrects the best part of being a kid.
The social commentary
is probably the most praised aspect of “Mockingbird.” In 1962, concepts like rape and interracial
sex were still fairly taboo for mass consumption. So was open discource about race and racism,
at least in mainstream film. Author
Harper Lee and the filmmakers of this movie forced America to take a hard look
a shameful piece of its history that was not so far in its past. The courtroom scene is the most obvious
example of this, with the segregation of the white and black audiences (notably,
Scout, Jem, and Dill sit with the black people), with the testimony and
examinations, and with Atticus Finch’s unforgettable closing argument. When Atticus stands up in that courtroom, most
of the time we watch him from the jury’s perspective; he is speaking to us
about America, about our history when he says “The defendant is not guilty –
but somebody in this courtroom is.” The
film may have its enjoyable innocent nostalgia, but Harper Lee’s novel was
mostly autobiographical and contains many unsettling truths. It is the effect those truths have on Scout’s
and Jem’s image of the world that is among the most memorable aspects of the
film. Also interesting, in many cases
the unruly and fanciful children are more honest and rational than the adults
and their society.
Even going deeper
than the obvious tackling of race and justice in America, or even the inevitable
loss of innocence children endure, there is an even deeper universality to this
film, one that is harder to pinpoint. It
is simply an overall sense that, in these characters, particularly the
children, we are looking at a portrait of humanity, still wondering at the
mysteries of life, it’s meaning, and the world in which it takes place. Still trying to understand each other and why
we do the things we do. Still longing
for belief in that strong moral compass represented by Atticus
Atticus. He is one of the most iconic characters in
all of film history, embodied so immaculately by Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar for his performance. Through the eyes of his
daughter, Atticus is a walking ideal, to the point that he could be called a
stand-in for God Himself: creator, teacher, protector, comforter, moral guide,
and idol. Rarely is a character so
morally and personally infallible also interesting. Thanks to Lee, Peck, and the filmmakers,
Atticus is the benchmark for the infallible hero against which all such
characters will be forever measured.
All of the above gives
“To Kill a Mockingbird” an combined emotional and intellectual impact that
remains palpable today. It will make the
viewer want to play, to laugh, to cry, and to fight for those things worth
fighting for.
What I Didn’t Like
The only possible
criticism is that, while making a film obviously meant to criticize racism in
America, the filmmakers relied on quite a lot of stereotypes, most notably in
the sneering, drunken white trash bigot that is Bob Ewell, who if not a
stereotype, is certainly a cliché.
Someone concerned with finding racial stereotypes could even argue that Tom
Robinson, black man martyred by American racism, is a character representative
of some racial misconceptions. Robinson
comes across as almost a frightened, simple-minded fool who needs an confident
and intelligent white man to come to his aid; not exactly a flattering
portrayal of African Americans in a film that is supposed to condemn racial
stereotypes. Anyway, most of this can be
explained away as being told through the simple observations of a young girl,
but it is nonetheless there.
It could also be
argued that Lee never intended Ewell or Robinson to be stand-ins for an entire
group of people. However, that argument
would then strip the film of some of its power, as it is the way in which the
film puts the whole of American history and society on trial that has helped “To
Kill a Mockingbird” become one of cinema’s enduring classics.
Most Memorable Scene
Much of what
impressed me about this movie was in the production values. Recreating a small town in Depression-era
America doesn’t necessarily call for a huge budget, but the attention to detail
in this film was phenomenal. There is a
moment early in the film when the children venture into Boo Radley’s yard and
are frightened into fleeing in terror. A
short time later, a gunshot is heard. In
that moment, we hear maybe a half dozen dogs begin barking, seemingly form
varying distances. In several more
sedated scenes after this, I also noticed details like distant dog barks and
bird chirps that are subtly mixed in behind the dialogue as part of the setting. It’s little details like this that which
heighten the sense of place that lends the weight of truth to “To Kill a
Mockingbird.”
My Rating: 5 out
of 5
