To Kill a Mockingbird
As someone who did not read the book and saw this story for the first time, I still think about so many scenes, as well as the dialogue. Starting with the casting. Gregory Peck as the role of Atticus Finch is already an A+ casting choice. The fact that we don‘t see this story through his perspective, but through the eyes of his children, yet we can see every emotion he feels is incredible and only shows what a great actor he is. Starting as this absent role who we only see
through a third perspective lens, while slowly showing more and more of his emotions. I love the scene, were Atticus finds out about Tom’s death. After their loss in trail, he still remained hopeful, truly believing that he can help this innocent man, but the second he hears from his death, we can see the disappointment, anger and grief he feels towards Tom. Probably angry at himself too, that he couldn’t save him.
Speaking of Tom Robinson. Brock Peters acting in the court scene truly broke my heart. While we as the audience got to hear the „evidence“ against him. Showing him as this evil man who raped an innocent girl, only to twist the story completely, revealing that he was the one harassed by the girl, which again shows how ahead of it‘s time this story is, made me feel every emotion Tom felt. The unfairness towards him filled me with so much anger, that the disappointment after his trail left me with an empty feeling.
And now to Boo. It took me a while to finally understand that the Mockingbird was Boo all along. Atticus telling us in the beginning, that killing a Mockingbird was no use, since they only sing and Boo later in the movie not being a monster, like the children thought, but being a calm and shy man, who was cast away by the people just because he was different and by killing Bob Ewell, even doing something good in our eyes, closes the circle of storytelling perfectly. Leaving him alone and not putting him through trial would bring no use to anyone so why should they.
As scout says in the end: „Well, it would be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?
To kill a mockingbird truly deserves to be up there with the classics. By showing racial discrimination in the 60s, a time we’re racial equality just started to gain attention, makes this movie stand out from all the other classics of this decade.