A Depression-era Film On Race,Prejudice And Justice

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2012)

To Kill a Mockingbird is a drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch and marks the film debuts of Robert Duvall, William Windom, and Alice Ghostley.
Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout. While Robinson's trial gives the film its momentum, there are plenty of anecdotal occurrences before and after the court date: Scout's ever-strengthening bond with older brother Jem, her friendship with precocious young Dill Harris (a character based on Lee's childhood chum Truman Capote and played by John Megna), her father's no- nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging mad dog, and especially Scout's reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley, the reclusive "village idiot" who turns out to be her salvation when she is attacked by a venomous bigot.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a time capsule, preserving hopes and sentiments from a kinder, gentler, more naive America.But I consider that a minor shortcomings in a rewarding film.Since its release, this intelligent, atmospheric film has been warmly received by audiences responding not only to their own childhood, but also to the heroic image portrayed by Peck, a shining example of citizenship and affectionate fatherhood.Furthermore,Gregory Peck delivers an Oscar-winning performance as a righteous lawyer in one of the best American films of the 1960s, a Depression-era chronicle of race, prejudice, and justice-- and coming of age.