Mar
To kill a mockingbird – 50th anniversary
M
y favourite novel of all time, Harper Lee`s `To Kill a Mockingbird` is celebrating it`s 50th anniversary. The Pulitzer Prize winning novel about racial injustice and loss of innocence in a small southern town is as timely as poignant as it was 50 years ago.
I had the great pleasure of watching the movie once again on Bravo TV this week. Even though this film is in black and white, the story and characters stand the test of time.
The scene which starts me crying is the night Atticus stands outside the jail to protect Tom Robison. Here it is summarized by Tim Dirks of Filmsite
In one of the most compelling scenes in the film, as the children begin taking a shortcut home, four cars noisily converge on the jail from the Meridian Highway. The children hide and watch from the cover of the bushes. The armed men get out of their cars and surround Atticus – they are a self-appointed lynch mob that has gathered to take justice into its own hands after diverting Sheriff Tate. To get a closer look, the three kids run over to the cars. Scout, in particular, who is oblivious to the danger, pushes her way through the crowd to glimpse her stern-faced father – he immediately fears for their safety. While Jem stands by his father and stubbornly refuses to leave after his father’s command, a stalwart Scout faces down the crowd and sees someone she recognizes. She conducts an innocent, uninhibited exchange with Walter Cunningham Sr., and engages him in a disarming, candid, yet humanized conversation. Scout makes him uncomfortable in front of the mob:
I said, ‘Hey,’ Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment getting along? (He turns and looks away.) Don’t you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I’m Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter. He’s a nice boy. Tell him ‘hey’ for me, won’t you? You know something, Mr. Cunningham, entailments are bad. Entailments…(She suddenly becomes self-conscious) Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry. Takes a long time sometimes…(To the men who are staring up at her) What’s the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham.
Scout’s words cause him to break up the potential lynching. The embarrassed crowd disbands.
The movie is as heartbreaking and heart warming as it was when it first previewed (1962). Do yourself a favour and rent the movie. Settle down with a bowl of popcorn and a box of Kleenex and go back to a time when movies were worth watching.
