To Kill a
Mockingbird
(2 hrs & 9
min, b&w, 1962)
2012
marks the 50th anniversary of this brilliant, practically flawless
and by now immortal motion picture.
Though based upon a best seller, namely Harper Lee’s bitter sweet
evocation of life in the deep south during the Great Depression, the film has
taken on a life of its own on the silver screen over and beyond the book. It was released in late fall of 1962. At least three generations have become
acquainted with it; it has become legendary in its veneration, for its
rectitude of spirit and for its unimpeachable honesty about a crucial segment
of American life and history. Seldom
does a first rate novel lend itself so perfectly to movie treatment.
Director
Robert Mulligan, Screenwriter Horton Foote and Producer Alan J. Pakula (who
later became a celebrated director) did everything just right. All the book’s rich and essential details
have been superbly captured and illuminated under their penetrating and
watchful eyes. They correctly understood
that the story is basically concerned with a child’s enlightenment through
tragedy and pain and through the ministry of a loving parent. Accordingly, all that happens on the screen
is told from the children’s point of view, just as it should be.
And
who are the children? A six-year-old
girl named Scout and her twelve-year-old brother Jem, played with gusto and
complete sincerity by Mary Badham and Philip Alford respectively, live in a
world unto themselves, full of mischief and make believe and wonder and
perplexity. Scout is a very fitting name
for the girl, because she is not the sweet, demure little southern cutie that
many would like for her to be. She can
hold her own in a fight and can match the boys toe to toe in the daring
department. It takes all the gentling of
which he is capable for her widowed father Atticus Finch, a small town lawyer,
to give her the stability she requires and really wants beneath her
feistiness. These kids are confined within
little more than their quaint neighborhood in their small rural town, until
something momentous happens to expand their horizons, something awesome,
troubling, bewildering and eventually traumatic. They are caught up in their father’s defense
of a poor black man against a charge of attempted rape. The fallout from this trial lands upon their
tender heads.
Gregory
Peck gives a warm, shaded, luminous portrayal of Atticus – arguably the best of
his career. Few scenes of courtroom
contention have ever been as stirring as the one in which he takes center
stage, where with simple honesty and eloquence he battles for the life of his
client against entrenched redneck prejudice.
And Brock Peters rocks me to my soul’s foundation as the victimized
African American whose fate hangs in the balance.
Add
to all these qualities the film’s intricate disclosure of the mores and
folkways and rhythms of the community.
Mulligan and Foote linger over small details, soaking up local color. They take their time and accomplish the
remarkable feat of telling a story surrounding a sensational trial without
getting caught up in the sensational in their manner of presentation. I shudder to think how vulgarized Lee’s book
could have become in the wrong Hollywood hands.
And keep an eye out for Robert Duvall making his movie debut in the
small non-speaking role of a mentally handicapped young man who ultimately
plays a crucial part in the children’s lives.
So
many priceless scenes! I could write
pages and pages about this great work!
The
reminiscing voice of Scout as an older adult woman provides us with the film’s
narration, once again in respect for the novel, in which the same story-telling
device is used. Some of the film’s most beautiful poetic language falls from
this person’s lips. Regrettably I have not
been able to find out who does this narration; I presume it is Harper Lee
herself, since it is drawn essentially from her own writing in the book. No mention of the name appears in the credits
or in any of the special features attached to the DVD. I am also inclined to believe it is Lee
because there is much of autobiography in the character of Scout, Atticus being
a fictionalization of Lee’s own father.
That
lovely sequence during the opening credits has no equal. Scout is heard off screen humming to herself
as she goes through a treasure chest and does crayon drawings, finishing off
with a giggle. It combines soothingly with Elmer Bernstein’s gentle, dreamy
score. We are being promised that each
subsequent scene will be just that – a treasure, a jewel, something extracted
delicately from a hope chest of memories.
And the film more than lives up to this opening promise. Try as I may I have never been able to get
through the last fifteen or so minutes of the movie without becoming
tearful. Not that the movie is a
“tearjerker” in the colloquial sense; it just strikes many tender chords. Though I never lived in a small town as a
child I feel as if I am revisiting a place inside myself.
It
is inconceivable to me that anybody should miss seeing “To Kill a Mockingbird”
at least once in his/her lifetime. A
gift from heaven!
To read other entries in my
blog, please consult its website:
enspiritus.blogspot.com
I welcome feedback. Direct it to bobracine@verizon.net
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