Hindsight

Classic Kids, or films the kids in your life have to see by 13 or else!

Day 22

To Kill a Mockingbird

 From one of the best American books ever written, we get this amazing film adaption, what a movie!  Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is turned into a masterpiece of cinema in the hands of director Robert Mulligan.  In the mid 1990s the film was listed in the National Film Registry as one of the most significant films of all time, while the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the last century.  The story, told from a child’s point of view,  follows Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (Mary Badham) and her brother Jem (Phillip Alford), as they grow-up in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the depression.  The children play, fight, go to school, and dare each other to get near the scary Boo Radley place.   

The father-daughter relationship in this film is so beautiful. Some of the best moments are when Atticus and Scout talk on the porch swing.  Another favorite scene, for me, is when Atticus, Jem and Scout are on the jail house steps.   Scout, in her innocence, is friendly to the townspeople who crowd the jail in hopes of killing Robinson, (the defendant) the night before his trial.  

Trivia:  You probably know this one, but the character of Dill is based on Harper Lee's real life childhood friendship with Truman Capote.  
                                                      
                                                      Gregory Peck  (who played Atticus) and Mary Badham (who played Scout) remained close the rest of his life.  When Peck visited Madison, I got to meet him, and we talked about this film.  It was his favorite.   

Themes:  Racism, class, gender, the south, & law

Media literacy questions:  How is the film different than the book?  Why is Atticus a hero?  How do Scout and Jem change throughout the film?  How does the film depict a small town in the south?  How does the film reveal the relationship between Boo and the children?