“One of the most memorable and wonderful movies of the 20th century”

Have you seen this film, dear reader? It is often the case that many people have heard the title “To Kill a Mockingbird” (“Убить пересмешника” in Russian), but few of them have read the book or seen a screening of the masterpiece by Harper Lee, dating back to the dramatic events of the American Deep South about 70 years ago…

We were lucky to attend an exciting showing of this film with the participation of Mary Badham – the woman who played the role of the major heroine, Scout, a very brave and charming girl, deeply touching our hearts by her wit. The emotions of the film are so hard to be written in words!!! All viewers were definitely fascinated! The performance embraced us with its inimitable atmosphere of black-and-white shots, the antique interiors of the houses and the mystery of streets…we were gently taken into another world which was so close as to be touched…

It would be so nice for you to watch this movie. In today’s article we will only give you in brief the contents of this great creation, so you will be able to define your own approach.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-Winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful upon its release and has become a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is loosely based on the author’s observations of her family and neighbors, as well as an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.

The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator’s father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers, and a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explained the novel’s impact by writing, “in the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism.”

As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence, but scholars have also noted that Lee addresses the issues of class tensions, courage and compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been the target of various campaigns to have it removed from public classrooms. Often the book is challenged for its use of racial epithets, and writers have noticed that although white readers react favorably to the novel, black readers tend to respond less positively.

Lee’s novel was initially reviewed by at least 30 newspapers and magazines, which varied widely in their assessment of it. More recently, it has been ranked by librarians before the Bible as a book “every adult should read before they die”. The book was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, transforming the town into a tourist destination. To date, it is Lee’s only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book’s impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.

Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird during a very tense time racially in her home state of Alabama. The South was still segregated, forcing blacks to use separate facilities apart from those used by whites, in almost every aspect of society. Clearly, a prime subject of To Kill a Mockingbird, namely the injustice of racism and inequality in the American South, was highly relevant at the time of its publication.

Interestingly, Harper Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s. The main character, Scout, is based on Lee’s own childhood, and Dill is most likely based on her childhood friend and neighbor, Truman Capote. By placing her novel in the 1930s, Lee provided her readers with a historical background for current events of the time, and in doing so she exposed the deeply rooted history of the civil rights struggle in the South.

The novel’s characters, kids Scout and Jem, are forced to examine the world – the town of Monroeville – in which they live. Through observing their society and interacting with people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, they come to understand more about true bravery, cowardice, and humanity.

The plot may be discussed for hours, you’d better watch it than hear about it for even a hundred times! Get your own experience of justice and goodwill, your own experience of how life can be.

We were glued to the screen for 130 minutes and were lost in the town of Monroeville like we had lived there for ages.

…When the lights went on, we saw Scout on the stage. She was a beautiful woman with the same hairstyle, the same eyes, and the same cunning smile. She stood with her arm in a plaster, telling us how all the stage crew managed to realize what we had just seen. It felt like 46 years had not ever passed. Mary was so cheerful in her speech and we floated in our chairs and didn’t really believe our eyes. How complicated it was for a kid to bear such a character and how this ALL was then, in the 1960s. This genius nominee for an Oscar was so modest and open-hearted. She told us that she had fallen and broken her arm. After the show we had an opportunity to speak to her. So we came up, hold her free arm firmly and wished her all the best in her life. The feeling of warmth filled our hearts for a long time. “Life can be so different and so surprising”– that is what I thought taking my way from the cinema to the Arbat on a shiny spring day.

To Kill A Mockingbird is truly a much loved and critically-acclaimed film. It is a perfect portrayal of childhood innocence, racial prejudice, moral tolerance and courage. No other words can describe this film except marvellous. The film is so wonderfully done that the audience actually feels as if they were in Alabama during the 1930s. This is a “must see” for anyone of any age.

 

Major Themes

Good and Evil: To Kill a Mockingbird is an exploration of human morality, and presents a constant conversation regarding the inherent goodness or evilness of people. Throughout the book, Scout and Jem make the classic transition from innocence to maturity. Scout also struggles to understand these things, but even following the trial is able to maintain her belief in the goodness of human nature.

Education: This is the first clear conflict between institutionalized education and education in the home.

Atticus, Scout’s father, clearly takes great pride in instilling a powerful sense of morality in his children. He truthfully answers whatever questions they ask, and encourages their inquisitive minds by treating them as adults and encouraging them to grow intellectually and morally as much as they can.

Scout receives the majority of her education in the home, and doesn’t believe school will do much for her. Clearly, Scout understands that life experiences are the true teachers, and that Atticus has taught her more than school ever will. Lee is expressing a lack of belief in the institutionalized educational system, and in fact suggests it might do more harm than good.

Social Inequality: Along with struggling with concepts of good and evil, Scout and Jem spend a great deal of time trying to understand what defines and creates social strata. Scout and the other children have a very clear understanding of the social inequalities in their town, but see these inequalities as natural and permanent.

Scout is frustrated by this, as she wants to be able to choose her own friends based on her definition of what makes a good person: morality.

The Mockingbird: The mockingbird comes to represent true goodness and purity. Tom Robinson is one example of a human “mockingbird”. He stands accused of raping and beating Mayella Ewell, but is innocent of the charges. The town commits the ultimate sin by finding him guilty and sentencing him to death. In effect, they have killed a mockingbird. Boo Radley, a strange awkward man, is another example of a human “mockingbird”. The mockingbird represents true goodness and innocence that should always be protected.

Racism: Obviously, racism is a major theme of the novel. During the Depression Era, blacks were still highly subjugated members of society. Blacks were not permitted to commingle with whites in public settings, as exemplified in the courthouse physical separation of races and in the clearly distinct black and white areas of town. Moreover, things like intermarriage were almost unheard of, and sorely looked down upon.

Throughout the novel, Scout explores the differences between black people and white people by communicating with the black woman Calpurnia, the housekeeper, and the white ones; she realizes that the attitude to black and white people is dramatically different.

Bravery: Bravery takes many forms in To Kill A Mockingbird. Atticus is brave to defend a black man in the face of criticism and threats of violence. The children believe themselves to be brave when approaching the Radley house early in the book, but learn later on that this was false bravery, and in fact, silly. Though, the traits of the kids in the novel show the great willingness to get into adventures and express the tender and fragile soul of a child.

The Law: Atticus is a lawyer, and the book is centered on his representation of Tom Robinson, his defendant. Although Atticus loses the trial, he believes strongly that despite social inequalities, all men are equal in the courtroom.

All of the themes were combined into a single whole to portray the life of the people most vividly. Seen from numerous sides, this life could never be either easy or hard to bear. It was the common and real life full of its everyday ups and downs, full of morality and cruelty, full of the laughter of kids and their little folks. It was almost full of sense.