It's a Classic, But...

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2004)

...to be honest I expected a bit more: Having heard so much praise for "To Kill A Mockingbird" since my childhood, and with the added fact that it enjoys a permanent position in IMDb's top 250, I had very high expectations for this classic film. However, when I recently watched it, I was somewhat deflated: Expecting a 9/10 or 10/10 film, I could barely give it a 7/10. Here is why:
"TKAM" is about the story of Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), an idealistic lawyer in America's South, who defends a wrongly accused black man (B. Peters) during the depression era; his passionate defense drives him to face the hostility of his racist fellow citizens. Although the story sounds like a courtroom drama, in fact it is hardly such: The plot revolves around the everyday life of the two little kids of Finch (M. Badham and P. Alford), with the trial being rather out of focus, and portrayed in a piecemeal way.
This last point is the grave weakness of the film, at least in my humble opinion. Everything else is fine: The acting is superb (with the two children definitely stealing the show, despite Peck's indisputable calibre), the atmosphere of the small city is skillfully presented, and of course, the anti-racist message of the movie is powerful. Yet, the problem is that "TKAM" continuously preoccupies us with the children's games and mischiefs, thus distracting us from following soberly (a) the capture and trial of the accused man, (b) the clash between Finch and his co-villagers, and (c) the clarification of what finally happened and who is responsible. In other words, the film fails to keep the focus on where I believe it should remain from the beginning to end: Finch, the defendant, and the community.
I am aware that at the time when this film was produced (early sixties), the issue of racism was still considered a taboo, and thus the launch of "TKAM" probably would touch sensitive cords; perhaps this explains the rather childish and melodramatic approach used by its producers, as they were possibly trying to take off some heat from its core message. This might be OK for the sixties, seventies, or even eighties. Yet, by watching it in 2004, I definitely left only partially satisfied. "TKAM" is a classic, yes: But if it had been produced today from scratch, I believe it would be much more focused and coherent.