Heartbreaking Prejudice and Injustice Through the Eyes of Children

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2008)

Few films adapted from acclaimed literature live up to the spirit and poignancy of the original source material. Winning the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, "To Kill a Mockingbird", based on the novel of the same title, is one of a handful of Hollywood gems that not only unabashedly adheres to the parent story but captures its atmosphere. The cast seems to have stepped right out of Harper Lee's prose and onto the screen being exactly how you would expect them. Gregory Peck (in an Academy Award-winning performance) appears to have been born to play Atticus Finch although the production of such a film would have been unimaginable when Peck came into the world in 1916. Brock Peters as Tom Robinson is equally as fine a choice, and honorable mention should go to James Anderson as the morally corrupt and spiritually void Bob Ewell. The children are equally superb, particularly Mary Badham in an academy-nominated performance as Scout and Philip Alford as Jem. Instead of watching a movie, you feel like you've moved into this town.
The magic of both the book and the movie is that it is not just a story about prejudicial and racist attitudes in the South, although these ideas are certainly at its heart. It is these attitudes and behaviors as seen from a child's perspective. Jem, Scout and their summer-friend Dill Harris (John Megna) see the clashes and the controversies of the adults and do not quite know what to make of them. They are old enough to understand what is going on but still too young to understand why a black man would be wrongfully accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell (convincingly portrayed by Collin Wilcox). Or why some of the townsfolk frown on Atticus for defending an innocent man who happens to be black. Their friend Dill also has some tall tales of his own, bragging that his father is a railroad magnate.
The other storyline involves a kind of "secret admirer" of the children that has been giving gifts to Jem in a knot-hole of a tree a few blocks from the Finch's, near the home of the Radleys. The Radleys are a reclusive family and the subject of many tall tales grown and fertilized by the townspeople, particularly Boo Radley who is characterized like a small-town devil through rumor. The Radleys are the target of community scorn, although not with as blunt an instrument as against African-Americans. We get the picture that this story is about untruths, from little innocent fibs like Dill's to the fabrication of the circumstances surrounding the trial.
In one brilliant scene, a lynch-mob gathers to take Tom Robinson from his cell. The mob seems compelled by some traditional sense of duty rather than flaming passion as the Ewells are not well-loved in the community. Atticus, forewarned of the plans, sits outside the front of the jail house as Robinson's only defense. Before there is an escalation of violence, little Scout Finch arrives on the scene. She notices the people in the mob are acquaintances and she begins having polite conversation with them as if they were at a social function. Her presence and friendliness deflates the resolve of the mob, almost as if they have been found out, not by the police, but by a child. How could they possibly explain to her what they are doing?
A large part of the story is the trial of Tom Robinson defended by Atticus Finch in a courtroom drama that is unlike most other Hollywood courtroom dramas. Here, the defending attorney Finch is fighting a losing battle where facts cannot penetrate deep-seeded hate and prejudice. Although the jury members dislike the Ewells, keeping the African-American community "in their place" takes a higher precedent. The climax involves how the outcome of the trial collides with the mysterious children's admirer. Notice the names "Finch" and "Robin"-son, both birds, like mockingbirds.
This is a masterpiece of film-making that defies most Hollywood conventions. Both the book and the film continue to appear on "Best of" lists, and deservedly so. There are few pieces of literature that have helped foster social change, not through a step-by-step objective plan, but simply through the innocent eyes of children witnessing and trying to make sense of injustice and prejudice. For some reason human beings tend to engage in hate more than love. But maybe when the child within us sees the pain and sorrow of unjustified prejudice, that's when we will change our attitudes. A tissue box and a loved one are also highly recommended when viewing.