Writer's challenge - my favorite movie

(Note: If you want the full effect, scroll to the bottom and play the theme music while reading)

Lori at Family Trees May Contain Nuts has challenged us to write about our favorite movie. I am a confessed movie addict. But I'll admit that I prefer older movies to most of what is out right now. Among my favorites are Gaslight, Vertigo, The African Queen, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, Rear Window... well, you get the picture. But my favorite movie, the one that I watch over and over again, is To Kill a Mockingbird. It is my favorite book and usually I am disappointed in movie adaptations. But to my mind, this was perfectly done. From the casting to Bernstein's score to the cinematography, this movie truly captured the essence of Harper Lee's novel. The sense of place is so beautifully conveyed. I swear you can feel the still, thick heat and taste the dust from the roads.

There are so many wonderful scenes in this movie. From Scout rolling down the street in the old tire, to Atticus defending his client from a lynch mob in front of the jail, to Scout finally meeting Boo Radley. Her simple "Hey Boo", has got to be one of the greatest lines ever spoken. But the scene that sends chills down my spine every time I see (or read) it is the scene when Atticus is leaving the courtroom after the verdict. Scout is told "Jean Louise, Jean Louise, stand - your father is passing" as the entire balcony rises to show respect and gratitude for Atticus. I cry every time I see that scene. Isn't that the vision that we all want to have of our fathers? To know that they will stand for what is good and right when it would be so much easier to stand silent in the face of injustice?

Image compliments of google images

The major plot line concerns the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus is appointed to defend him at trial, and the majority of the movie shows the ways that this affects his family. But I've always felt that the main character in To Kill Mockingbird is the town of Maycomb, Alabama itself. The townspeople are the same group of people that you know from your own town, seen through the eyes of Atticus' children, Jem age 10 and Jean Louise, better known as Scout, age 6. And Maycomb has it's own version of the bogeyman, Arthur Radley, known as "Boo" to the children. Boo is reputed to be crazy, a monster who stabbed his own father with a pair of scissors, someone to be terrified of. But Jem and Scout are naturally curious about this strange man, sneaking up and trying to see in the house to get a glimpse of him. At one point, Boo leaves them little gifts hidden in a knothole of a tree. When his father discovers this, he cements over the hole. The children finally get to meet Boo at the end of a long and terrifying night, when he saves them from the father of the woman who falsely accused Tom of raping her.

Image courtesy of google images (Robert Duval in one of his first movie roles)

Ultimately, To Kill A Mockingbird is my favorite movie because it takes me back to my own childhood. It makes me remember the wonder and awe of being a child, when the simplest things were often the best. And it makes me laugh when I remember the people and places that scared the tar out of me. As we get older we realize that people are not always what they appear to be, for good or bad. And many times the people that we fear because they are "different" are often the best people around us. This movie reminds me that sometimes the most ordinary things in our lives are really the most extraordinary.

I think Scout sums it up best in one of her last narrative lines in the movie:

"Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives."

If you've not seen this adaptation of Harper Lee's seminal novel, run, don't walk to your nearest video store and rent it. Or better yet, buy the anniversary edition. It is full of neat extras and wonderful liner notes. And if you've never heard the soundtrack, give that a spin as well. Bernstein was a true genius in conveying place and mood through his music. His score is brilliant, invoking the sense of wonder and magic that is a child's world.