"Remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird"

I've decided organization is overrated, so my movie-watching journey will be a chronological mess. Sorry about that.

This week my pick was To Kill a Mockingbird, from 1962, directed by Robert Mulligan.

                                           


Now, if you're in any way a bookworm like me, you know that the book this movie was based on is a classic. So I had high expectations for this one. Unfortunately, I'd never had the chance to read it, so I went into this pretty unsure about the plot.

What I did know was that Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his perfomance as Atticus Finch, and boy did he deserve it.

The story is set in Depression-era Alabama, where Scout (played by Mary Badham) and Jem (Phillip Alford) live with their widowed father, Atticus Finch.
Atticus is a lawyer who is assigned to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man, accused of rape.

I divided the movie in two parts. 

The first hour is essentially about the kids enjoying their summer and getting in trouble. They make a friend called Dill (John Megna), and love to hang around their neighbour's house, because of the stories surrounding one of the inhabitants, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).  According to town gossip, the guy stabbed his own father with scissors, and was taken into the courthouse for custody. Because his parents didn't want him in an asylum, Boo was taken home and handcuffed to his bed in the basement.

                              

Eventually the kids find out about the man Atticus is defending, and sneak into the courthouse to watch his trial.

That's where the second part of the movie starts. 

The kids are still the main focus of the story, but we get a better glimpse at Atticus' struggle, after all he is a white man in the South of the United States in the 1930's defending a black man in court. He faces a lot of threats from his fellow townsman, who feel like he shouldn't defend a black man in the first place. To the point where Atticus spends the night in front of Robinson's cell, because he knows some of the men in town are going to try to get rid of him.

The trial scene is easily one of the most intense scenes I've ever seen in my life. Brock Peters gave Tom Robinson unscripted tears, and Gregory Peck managed to get Atticus' 9 minute summation speech right in just one take.

Just this scene makes the entire movie worth it. Seriously.


                                

The fact that it was purposely shot in black and white is brilliant. 

It's a movie about segregation and racism, and the lack of color just makes that contrast way more obvious to the viewers, just like the characters in the movie experience it. On top of that, Robert Mulligan didn't want the movie to be enjoyed by it's colors, but by it's story.

Also, Atticus Finch is by far the best movie dad I've ever seen, and we live in a world where The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Taken are a thing, so that's saying a lot.

There were only two things about this movie that bothered me a little, and in retrospect, they are pretty irrelevant considering the rest of the story.

The first one is the Alabama accent, if y'all know what I mean. I have a weird and completely unfounded dislike for southern American accents, but after a few minutes I stopped paying attention to that.

And the second one was the initial pace of the movie. It's not griping from the start, and I'm pretty sure I should be getting used to this, since I had the same issue with The Stranger. Maybe it's a pattern for older movies? Or maybe I'm just a picky viewer? We'll see.


                                 

To Kill a Mockingbird is a movie about discrimination and unjustified cruelty; but it's also a movie about innocence and kindness. It's heart-wrenching and heart-warming at the same time.

It's beautiful, and I don't think everyone will appreciate it the same way.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing.