To Kill a Mockingbird: Character and Simplicity

I have often opined that some of the best movies are those adapted from books. There is something about the book-made-to-film kind of movie. Think about all those movies that touched you deeply; evoking different emotions in you that stayed with you and characterised those movies to you. Think about the first time you saw The Help, Gone with the Wind, Forrest Gump, or Bridget Jones’ Diary. How did you feel afterwards?  

After my third viewing of To Kill a Mockingbird, the 1962 movie based on the 1960 Pulitzer prize winning book of the same title, I wondered if I could put all my thoughts about it into a simple review without feeling I didn’t do enough.

Set in the depression era of the repressive and racially charged atmosphere of the American South, To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated from the point of view of Scout Finch (Mary Badham) who reminisces about her experiences growing up in small-town Maycomb County with her widowed father Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) and her brother Jem (Phillip Alford).

Young Scout is a tomboy; inquisitive, always trotting behind her brother Jem and getting into fights at school. Scout and Jem befriend a young boy about Scout’s age named Dill (John Megna) who is holidaying in the county with his aunt. They spend the summer playing together, getting into trouble, learning from one another and sharing urban legends about the reclusive Boo Radley (Robert Duvall) and his family. The summer soon ends and Scout must begin school.

At this time Atticus who is a lawyer chooses to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) a young black man accused of raping a young white woman called Mayella (Collin Wilcox Paxton). Finch does this to the ire of his white townsfolk and the girl’s father, Bobby Ewell (James Anderson), who calls him a ‘nigger lover.’ In all of this, the children watch their father, quietly soaking up all they see and hear him do and all he tells them.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a beautiful movie and in its near-simple storyline lies its power because there is nothing simple about a father trying to teach his children about life and values in a world of double standards.

Atticus Finch is a hero, though not of the Django gun-toting variety. He is a hero because of his humanity; he sees nothing wrong with a ‘Negro’ man feeling sorry for a white woman, he teaches his children to walk around in others’ skins before judging them, he is brave and he walks his talk.

There are certain scenes in To Kill a Mockingbird that make it a classic. One of these is the courtroom scene where people are gathered to watch Atticus defend Tom Robinson. The whites take up the front part of the courtroom while the blacks who have turned out in their numbers to support their own squeeze themselves in the upstairs space.

In this scene Atticus takes racial segregation apart; lays bare the ignorance and narrow-mindedness of its perpetrators and entreats the impartiality and fairness of the law. It is quite an emotional and compelling scene, so much so that one would swear that this would move Mayella to recant her testimony. I believe To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those movies young people should see as a rite of passage of sorts because it is wholesome and it says a lot and teaches a lot without being overly preachy.

To Kill a Mockingbird is also an example in structure because it reflects how effectively voice-overs can be used in a script—if they must be used. Though voice overs are used in this movie, the plot is not voice-over driven. Instead the voice over is used sparingly and purposefully to let us in on Scout’s thoughts about certain events in her story since she is indeed narrating the story overall.

However what has and will keep To Kill a Mockingbird lingering in the heart of its viewers is character depth and presentation. Atticus Finch played by actor Gregory Peck is undoubtedly the one who moves us with his kindness, audacity, wisdom, and fatherhood. Following closely behind are the characters Jem, Scout, and Boo. Little wonder Peck won Best Actor at the Oscars for his portrayal of Atticus Finch.

The movie also clinched the award for Best Adapted Screenplay leaving no doubt as to the fact that there was already a strong base for the screenwriting which is the novel itself. Yet I don’t expect impressions different from that which I already experienced from the movie when I do read the book.