To Kill A Mocking Bird
So I think most people have read this book at some point in there life. It’s one of the classic required readings that people have read so they love to put in their favorite books on facebook to seem more cultured. I had also read this book in high school and to be completely honest forgot what it was about. I all really remembered was Scout, there being a trial, and a creepy guy, Boo Radley.
To recap briefly the movie is about a trial going on in the south during the Jim Crow era. The trial is for black man who is accused of raping a beating a white woman. Because of the times there is a lot of tension against the lawyer defending the black man and tension against the man himself. It is a real testament of the times and shows the unfair treatment shown towards blacks when clear cut evidence that he is not guilty is presented. Again, the story is a literary classic and has been repeated several times in different movies/books.
Well watching the movie really refreshed me on the book I had read and after watching the movie I really have to say some of the copy cats of the story have done a better job. Movies like A Time To Kill or Mississippi Burning or even Just Cause have similar stories of white lawyers defending (sometimes) innocent blacks in the Jim Crow era and I really feel some of them have done much better jobs. Now that isn’t to say this movie isn’t important as it really was the first of its kind and told this story at a time when siding for blacks was not the socially acceptable to do as it is now. In A Time To Kill, I felt that the story hit a lot more emotions and you got more of a sense of how taking on a unpopular case like this really effected the lawyer in all aspects of his life.
During To Kill A Mocking Bird, Atticus (the lawyer) is puts off as being a very cold person so you don’t really get a feeling of how he really feels about taking the case and how doing so has effected him. Watching it he really seems to be a champion of civil rights but really watching I could not tell if he was really taking the case on for the sake of civil rights or for his belief in the justice system. This was probably necessary at the time since being a champion of civil rights would not of been very well received but in my opinion it plays it to safe. It is similar to the Fox News correspondents who will claim they are independent and then only have guests with strong right views and will let them say whatever they want with out fact checking them. They can still claim to be independent if they just let the guest talk like a psycho and just stay quite it. This is sort of a bullshit way of making a statement with out having to be held personally responsible if it doesn’t work out. I would have been a lot happier if Atticus would have balls up and made a stand one way or the other on how he felt about race.
This leads to my next point, AFI the institution that made the list I am watching movies from, has a lot of other lists based on 100 best musicals or comedies. One of these lists was the best Heroes and Villains (here is a link to the list), on which Atticus Fitch is listed as the number one hero. I have beef with this because all though he is a clear cut hero in this story he is far from the greatest hero in any movie. During the movie all though his son is attacked there isn’t a feeling that he is in much danger the whole movie. The people of the town still respect him and seem more upset at the black man being accused than Atticus himself. Atticus really just looks to be going through the motions, you get a sense he knows the consequences of taking on the case means but at the same time doesn’t really seem to be effected by it. Not only that but he doesn’t really show emotion to any one. His own kids call him by his first name and for the most part doesn’t pay much attention to them at all. My point is that there are Heroes in movies that whole lives are changed detrimentally due to their attacking on what is right and at the end of this movie you get the feeling he will be gong to back life as normal in a couple of weeks.
The Bottom Line
It is a good story and the movie holds up well. It was made in 1962 and in black and white but the cinematography holds up and the story is pretty timeless. Being that this is one of those books every one should have read and might come up in conversation if you haven’t read it you should probably see the movie as so you can fake it and tell people you have. If you read the book and weren’t really into it or indifferent I would skip the movie, the movie will be a rehash to you and you won’t get more out of it than you did the movie.
