Absolutely outstanding masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2020)

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is a 1962 drama directed by Robert Mulligan starring Gregory Peck and Mary Badham. Back when I was in my school years, we got around reading most of the literary classics in English class. I personally had the chance to read "Death of a Salesman" or "Brave New World", but never actually had the chance to read some other of the most famous works that eventually were adapted to the big screen. Next to "A Streetcar Named Desire" the controversial 1961 Harper Lee novel of the same name this movie's based on always had my immense curiosity. It's one of those novels you hear of from countless sources and due to the fact that I really don't have time anymore to voluntarily read books (uni life doesn't allow me!), I decided to skip that and watch it right away. What am I to say? This film's again shown me how much I love my passion. First of all, this film managed to fail my personal expectations and excel them with something even greater instead. I sorta needed to get used to the fact that it's told through the perspective of a young girl and that most of the story focuses on the children. What I expected to be just a two hour depiction of a twisted criminal case turns out to be exactly this, but interwoven into a beautiful coming of age story. The whole film is a single profound metaphor about justice and injustice that lives from all the small details attached to it. It focuses on the unrighteousness and the presence of racism and prejudices. It's told through the eyes of a child that had to deal with it in her juvenile and somewhat naÃ¯ve stage of life and I think that's one of the best aspects of the narration. Cause children are the purest human beings on earth, you know? It empathically examines the severe danger of ignorance, intolerance and indifference on a level that can be comprehended by everyone. It's a magnificently written story and wonderfully constructed situation that teaches even the ones who thought they'd know it all. It raises both ethically and morally important questions that define and at the same time heavily criticise our society. What is it that makes us so intolerant? Why do we think we stand above other humans? Why do we hate what we fear and why don't we just step over our own opinion? Why is there still so much injustice in this world? The film asks the viewer and mercilessly points out each and every aspect that make anyone who watches it feel uncomfortable, because as shockingly as it sounds, it appeals to both the past and even our modern times and nobody can deny that it's still one of the most grave problems of our society. Lead by an outstanding performance of Peck as charismatic lawyer Atticus Finch, the rest of the cast, especially the child actors, perform on a coequal level and definitely use the full potential of this masterful story. The end of the court scene absolutely enraged me, because this iniquitousness contradicted all of my sense of reason and was simply outrageous to me and I think that's when I knew Harper Lee did her best work. She never intended to reach something else. What has been scandalous then is still relevant now, because this sort of mindset still exists in some people's heads. The final conclusion is also the conclusion of the excellent mockingbird metaphor that teaches us to not fear what we personally don't know and that we shouldn't be killing something that's obviously innocent, only because we are to much filled up with hateful prejudices that doesn't match reality. At the same time though, it subliminally criticises that people always act in their own beliefs of law eventually. That's the quintessence of the story. In the end, I felt so many emotions that I couldn't even completly describe it with words. All in all, this novel adaptation is a perfect example for a magnificent enactment of a literary classic. It's absolutely touching and shocking, mostly thanks to the outstanding achievement in acting and writing. It's compelling storytelling at it's finest and a thought provoking masterpiece that is still relevant today and that everyone should have watched at least once in life. Absolutely brilliant!