Man's courage to fight injustice and racial prejudice in a dignified manner

Rating: 9/10 (3 March 2006)

To Kill a Mockingbird, in my opinion, is and will always be one of Hollywood's best productions about social injustice and racial prejudice as well as man's courage to cure and fight against those social ills in a dignified manner. Hence it is a must-see movie.
The film, based on Harper Lee's novel of the same name, shot in black and white and released in 1962, opens with scenery of a small "nowhere to go and nothing to buy" town in Alabama. Yet in this sleepy town there lives a white and good-hearted lawyer who not only faithfully adheres to the principles of human rights and social justice but also dares to fight against bigots while defending the noble cause he believes in. He stands invincibly despite mockery and threats.
The lawyer, Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck), is assigned to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. During the trial, Atticus establishes an important piece of evidence that the accused Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) is innocent. He shows the jury that Tom's left hand is incapacitated. Earlier in the trial, Sheriff Tate has testified that he saw bruises on the woman right neck after the incident was reported to him, indicating that the attacker must have been a left-handed person. That person is none other than the woman's own father who often mistreats her when he gets drunk.
Peck's portrayal as a serious and professional lawyer as well as a widower and loving father is superb. Compared with The Paradine Case, another courtroom drama also starred by Peck who plays the role of a defense attorney of a woman suspected of murder, his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird is far better and more convincing. Understandably that Peck won the 1962 Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Atticus.
Good acting is also demonstrated by then child actors Mary Badham and Philip Alford, respectively playing the role of Scout and Jem, Atticus's children who stand tall by their father's side. Indeed, their acting in the film is down-to-earth and captivating.
Besides pointing out that prejudice against anyone is wrong and intolerable, the film  directed by Robert Mulligan and adapted to the screenplay by Horton Foote  also affirms the importance of understanding and tender feeling in building up human relations. The best example for this is the scene that depicts how Boo Radley (played by then unknown Robert Duvall), considered by the townspeople as a half monster, turns out to be a kind-hearted man who saves Scout and Jem from being harassed by the woman's father who strongly opposes Atticus's undertaking.
Lee earned the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for her fiction, and although To Kill a Mockingbird is her only novel, it nevertheless became a best-seller not long after its publication. The novel, I believe, is a literary gem and worth reading  Oei Eng Goan (enggoano@indosat.net.id) Jakarta, Indonesia