Truly Heartwarming, Despite The Hatred

Rating: Null/10 (13 August 2002)

Quite a few of the Video/DVD stores in my town have the 35th Anniversary version of "To Kill A Mockingbird" in stock (this came out in 1997). At the end of the movie there is an excellent documentary about the making of "Mockingbird".
There were two statements from this documentary, which really impressed me. First, Gregory Peck, then in his early 80s, stated that it was the luckiest day of his life, when he was picked to play Atticus Finch in this film! Second, Elmer Bernstein, who composed the film's music (he was also the same man who composed the alma mater band song for "Animal House"), explained how he came up with the theme song. He said that, since "Mockingbird" was a story told though a child's eyes, he tried to come up with a tune similar to what children do at a piano (simply playing around, haphazardly, with the keys). Out of that crude dalliance came one of the most beautiful and touching signature songs (once he magically polished it up with violins and other sentimental instruments).
"To Kill A Mockingbird" is about a lawyer and his children, who paid dearly for his (Atticus Finch's) decision to do what was right. His acceptance of a case to defend a Black man, falsely accused of raping a local White woman (in early 1930s Macon, Georgia) certainly did extract some HEAVY COSTS on him and his children. As good and as noble a man as he was (and as respected as he was in his community), this trial and its aftermath turned his household UPSIDE DOWN! There was a great deal of pain, even before the trial, as well.
We see the Finch family, at the end of the film, picking up all the shattered pieces and moving on with their lives, as best they can. We see Atticus, every bit as much the loving and dedicated father that he was throughout the entire story. This is why (for me, anyway) the very touching and moving theme song is like a song of TRIUMPH and COURAGE (as they prepare to move into the next chapter of their lives).

What a wonderful father Gregory Peck's Atticus was (especially as a widower, and a very busy lawyer, raising two children). Of all the moving and powerful interactions he had with his children, what impressed me most was how he reasoned with them as if they were little adults (rather than "children"). He never seemed to talk down to them. He tried to talk (and negotiate) with them, as he would with one of his peers (a very interesting irony, since both children called him "Atticus" rather than Dad or Daddy!).
I was also quite mesmerized by Peck's dramatic voice in the courtroom; especially when he was giving his closing arguments for the defendant. In addition I was quite struck by the statement of one of his neighbors (to his son, Jem):
"Some men are born to do our unpleasant tasks..........Your father is one of them!"
In a small way I saw a symbolism of Christ, when I heard Atticus described that way. Though he did not die for doing what was right, it took an incredibly heavy toll on him and his loved ones.
The first time that I saw this movie, I was with a family member who felt uncomfortable about watching it. Her reason for feeling this way was because she thought that it would be "depressing" to watch something about racial strife between Blacks and Whites. I come away with so much more than that, every time I watch "Mockingbird". I would venture to say that it is my favorite movie of all time!