I think TKAM is a marvellously made film. All the flaws that make
it tedious in my eyes are in the original novel, which I do not
like, either.
I thought the structure of having the little girl observe the
changes and developments in her brother was a needless addition
to the movie. Her cluelessness was often annoying. Remove Scout,
focus on Jeb and his dad, the story would be much improved. As it
was, the Scout character was an intrusion--it's hardly necessary
to be told that she's an autobiographical representation of the
author, who clearly needed to feel her presence mattered, somehow.
But the conceit of one unknowingly observing the other observe
and grow from his father's example just annoyed me no end.
I think Finch was a lousy lawyer, in this sense: he lectured to a
racist jury. Utterly foolish. It brings to mind the only barely
decent part of a horrible movie, A Time To Kill, when
McConnaughey asked the jury to pretend the little girl was white.
*That's* lawyering. But Finch's appeal to the jury was
speechifying to self-indulgent effect. But worse, a wily lawyer (even
a racist one) could have gotten Tom off. I grant you, I am
judging the movie by current standards, but then my point is that
it does not age well.
Finally, Ewell, the bad guy, was just completely unbelievable. A
very unconvincing, slimy villain. And I've never thought the Boo
experience was all that mystical and magical. So all things
considered, the ending left me unmoved.
(Again--all these flaws are ones I minded in the novel as well as
the movie.)
Plus side: performances are superb. I think this is Peck's best
work. Jeb is a great character, and the kid who plays him is
wonderful. Brock Peters scores well in his few scenes, as does
Calpurnia. Everyone else does fine. The production values are
wonderful; this is a beautifully produced film.
I also thought that the picture works well as a portrayal of the
South and an era that is largely gone, for better and worse. It
captures a sense of community, of caring for one's own (although
how one defines "own" depends on the individual).
Benear is hallucinating any comments I made about community in
regards to this movie, or whether or not community still exists,
btw.
When I compare the two movies as "issue" movies, GA
wins hands down. When I compare the movies on their own merits (regardless
of their "issue" standing), GA still wins. But my
reasoning in comparing them on their own merits are entirely
personal. Were I to make recommendations to someone else, I would
tell them that both movies are wonderful; that TKAM is the more
accessible of the two.
