To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
Somehow I never saw this classic movie. In fact, I never read the book all the way through, starting it one time maybe in high school and then putting it down about halfway through and never finishing it. I had my expectations set entirely too high for this movie. It has a number of problems, the first of which is that it is the story of life in a small southern town told through the eyes of children 10 to 12 years old. That means a lot of it has to be carried by child actors, which usually doesn’t work that well. Second, the story is kind of simplistic. You have a kind understanding white guy standing up for a wrongly accused black guy against a bunch of violent country bumpkins. There isn’t much nuance here. However, for the time it is set (the 1930’s), the time it was written (the 1950’s) and the time it was filmed (the 1960’s) maybe you can forgive some of that and accept it as an early look at racial problems in the United States and in the south in particular.The courtroom scenes are a little weak, hopefully greatly abbreviated to fit into one chapter of the movie, but it still has some good performances. I still like the movie, but I didn’t love it, though I do like the way it teaches the children in the movie some important lessons about how to treat others. I think by teaching empathy, it can be particularly effective for younger viewers, but may leave adults wanting something more.
Written: 11 Nov 2018
Owned on: Digital