Small town attorney fights bigotry

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2015)

An outstanding movie with Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird is based on the Harper Lee novel set during the Depression of the 1930's. While it has a strong civil rights message that is the core of the film, it is also a great family story. This comes out early in the film as Jem and Scout, Peck's two children, meet up with Dill, the boy staying next door for the summer. It is a small town where children play and explore the neighbourhood. We see a mad dog that Atticus shoots to spare his family from any attack and a house that the neighbours avoid out of fear of what lies within it. Mary Badham and Philip Alford are Scout and Jem, the two children of Atticus Finch. Atticus is a single father and a lawyer whose wife died several years earlier. Atticus spends time with his children and answers their questions in an honest and loving way. When a judge comes by to ask him to take on a case of alleged assault by a black man, Atticus knows he will be taking on a huge burden in a town where blacks are up against bigotry and ignorance. Yet, he agrees right off. No discussion with a judge...just a simple yes to the judge's question. It is clear that the accused black man is innocent but justice for blacks does not come easily with the climate in this town. During the trial, all the black people look down from the balcony above in the segregated courtroom, symbolic of their distance from laws that govern them. At the end of the trial, they all stand in unison when Atticus leaves. Atticus is a great role model for his community, a lawyer and parent who raises his children and fights for justice in his own town. There is a lesson in how to be a good neighbour toward the end that puts an end to a neighbourhood fallacy. This is one very moving and inspiring film and a great achievement for director Robert Mulligan (Up the Down Staircase, Love with a Proper Stranger).