A film that showcases the brilliance of Gregory Peck's acting

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2015)

To Kill a Mockingbird is the acclaimed adaption of Harper Lee's novel, which until this year was the only novel the author had written. It quickly became a standard text, taught routinely in schools. Set in 1930's Depression era Alabama, it focuses on a principled lawyer called Atticus Finch, who takes on a case to represent a black man accused of raping a white woman; in the subsequent trial Finch raises serious doubts about the legitimacy of the accusation. The story is told through the eyes of his young daughter Scout.
The story is an autobiographical one to some extent, with Scout being a fictional version of the young Lee. It must've been a particularly pertinent film in the 1960's in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, when there were other films addressing the issue of racial discrimination in different ways, such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967). Unlike that one, this one is a little more intense, as it is set thirty years in the past in the deep south, at a time where lynchings were not uncommon. The courtroom drama part of the story actually only occupies a quite small portion of the film, with much of the runtime devoted to character development showing small details of life, both before the pivotal trial and later after the fallout. For me though, it was the court scenes that were the real highlight, with some stellar drama and acting. Of the latter much credit has to go to Gregory Peck, who brings to life Atticus Finch with extreme skill and measured understatement. He was definitely one of the top actors of his day and this film really shows why. The child actors were also very convincing also, which is hardly a given. It was also the film debut of the great Robert Duvall who appears late on in the picture as the mysterious Boo Radley.