sweet and tender

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2014)

Arguably the strongest bond of any relationship between two human begins, more than; the husband and wife, more than two sister and even more than a mother and her daughter. The strongest of all bonds is the one shared between a father and his son. The father being the mentor, whose job it is to help his son, to guide his son through the unsteady, turbulent and sometimes painful sea that is life. His kind words of encouragements must act as sails boats to guide us into man hood. Well Mockingbird is not strictly just a father and son relationship, there is also a daughter added to the mix, but despite that, Atticus Finch is the perfect illustration of what a good father should be as with stern love and mostly importantly education, he teaches his children to love in a world full of hate, and for me that's the greatest lesson any father could teach his children. And To Kill a Mockingbird is the perfect illustration of a true American classic. Based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning masterpiece novel by Harper Lee (Her only novel), writer Horton Foote and director Robert Mulligan, ingeniously guide us through a painful period in human history for all those involved, a period of economic turmoil and the very apex of racial tension in the deep south, Maycomb, Alabama, in 1932 to be more precise. But what makes the film the even more compelling is how we are shown a world filled with so much ugly, but at the same time we are lead to a single red rose of beauty, because we are shown the world through the eyes of 6 year old girl called Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (Mary Badham) a high spirited and precocious young girl, who despite her innocent smile, you certainly don't want to find yourself on her bad side. On her journey she is accompanied by Brother Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch (Phillip Alford), neighbourhood friend Dill Harris and last but not least farther Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. But it's through Scouts eyes we see her father a nigh-on perfect, eloquent and intelligent lawyer seeks to uphold what is true and just, in a world that seeks to abuse and belittle a whole race of people, as he puts it upon himself to protect a black man in court against the bigoted arm of injustice. The black man is Tom Robinson and he has been accused of raping a poor white girl named Mayella Violet Ewell, but as you would expect in 1932, an all white jury sees him as guilty even though the film consistently paints him a positive light, suggesting he is innocent. Despite this, Atticus still endeavours to protect a man he firmly believes is innocent, leading to one of the most impressive and compelling (and longest) courtroom scenes in history. The two things that stood out to me the most was, for one Gregory Peck performance as the father, which I felt he defiantly deserved his Best Actors Oscar for his performance, because as many times as I watch the film back I can't help but fall in love with it again and again, because peck is able to take a onion layered character who one point his a pacifists, loving father, then a second later he shots down a dog 100 meters away with just one bullet, as if he was in a Clint Eastwood film. And it's this ability to take such a complex character, with so such juxtapositions at his core, and be able to do Harper Lee's character a great service with a gentle, controlled and fine paint brush flick from a true artist. The second thing that stood out for me was the three young actors who made the film such an enjoyable and funny watch, each brought passion and enthusiasm to the role, which helped Foote's script truly come alive. Ranked 33rd greatest American film for a reason! An intoxicating watch, I strongly recommended it as viewing for all occasion.