An intriguing slice of Americana from living memory

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2008)

Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, this movie combines truth with fiction to illustrate a certain time in America's history. It takes a while to suss out the nature of this movie or what it's about. So, we're sort of like the nominal central character of the movie, "Scout" (Mary Badham), the young daughter of Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck), a hick town lawyer in America's Deep South (in the 1930s). Therefore, the early part of the movie has Scout be the centre of attention along with her childish concerns and relations with her younger brother and a new friend who is visiting.
Later, this child centred point of view comes to encompass more adult concerns and, particularly, a legal case Atticus Finch has decided to take on...the defence of a black man charged with raping, I think, a white woman. At first, Atticus, seen from the children's' point of view is nothing special or exceptional. One of the pleasures of this movie is how their father transforms into someone to celebrate.
Brilliantly evoking an America which existed even as little as 40 odd years ago, this movie and the book it was based on must have seemed a pebble in the shoe to a country which eulogised itself and its virtues.
Finch, in court, is a quiet and smouldering figure exemplifying integrity and the pursuit of justice. Perhaps the court scenes aren't the most realistic ever filmed but the evidence conveyed is plausible and lucid. In fact, it's superior to the jury deliberations found in "12 angry men" which are somewhat logically jumpy. In other words, this movie seems to want to keep the court room evidence to a minimum for fear of boring us. It's brevity isn't a major flaw though.
Sensitive issues are dealt with subtly in Mockingbird, but I do wonder if the fate of Finch's client was glossed over superficially without Finch type analysis from the film makers...or author?
In black and white. Check out "The curse of the Cat People" which I review here and also deals with the world of childhood.