TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)

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