Film - To Kill a Mockingbird

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## How the Finchs are accepted.

## Attitude of Atticus Finch

To Kill a Mockingbird

Directed by Robert Mulligan

Produced by Alan J. Pakula

Screenplay by Horton Foote

Starring Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford

Release dates December 25, 1962

Running time 129 minutes

Country United States

Language English

 

 

 

Gregory Peck, the man of conscience of America, so to be called, and still popular as an ideal father role, stars in this film as a lawyer.

 

Atticus Finch is a lawyer of fairness and he stands for the poor who cannot even pay for the expense.

He and his two kids, Jem and Scout, live with him happily playing each other and their friends.

Atticus brings up these two by himself after the death of his wife.

One day, the kids find a toy in a hollow of a tree nearby.  Thy take it home and Jem confesses he has found more in the same hollow.  They wonder who place those toys in the hollow.

 

On the other hand, Atticus is asked to support a case.

A black man, Tom, is accused of having raped a white woman.  Atticus is to plea Tom.

He appeals the juries to look at the facts and truths and judge.

However, Atticus loses the case.  He explains Tom who is being taken away from the court that they still have a hope to win.

 

On the night of the judge, a marshal comes to Atticus at home and tells him that Tom tried to escape and now is shot dead.  Atticus considers that it is his job to tell the family about it and goes to visit them.

 

The kids grow up gradually, looking at the father.

In autumn, the two are assaulted by a thug.  The brother gets injured and the sister tries to get away but in vain, because of her Halloween costume.  On the verge of the attack, someone helps the sister but she cannot see the person with her narrow eyesight through the costume.  The person held the brother injured and heads their home, and the sister who gets back from the stunning situation, takes off her costume, and follows this person.

 

The thug is found out to be the father of the woman who insisted being raped, and dead in woods.  In addition, the person who helped the kids and brought the boy home is “Boo” who lives near them but withdrawn, never shows himself up in public.  This is also the very person who has given toys to the kids.

The marshal of the town insists Atticus not to reveal “Boo” as the hero because it is against sense of justice.

 

In this work, Atticus guides kids as a father, but at the same time, he shows that he himself is a human.  He believes fairness guides kids and everything must be sort out with conversation, but weapon.

There is a scene of a rabid dog nearing the Finchs.

Atticus shoots the dog with a gun.  It shows the audience he can be active enough to protect his family and actually he is strong enough to be able to do that.  However, he still talks to the kids that people must talk to settle things.

The audience can see his liberal attitude by kids calling the father with his first name, not making himself dignified but showing himself as a human.  His attitude does not change from the beginning to the end.

 

At the beginning of the film, there is a flash moment of Atticus and a man of the town conversing each other, expressing the background of the story.  This is a distinctive impression of technique of the director.

What Atticus does, how he is related to people in town, the hero’s character, jobs and background of the people in town.  This is a flipping time but impressive enough for the audience to concentrate on the film later on.

 

Atticus trusts people with discipline regardless of their skin and his black housemaid holds broad and important authority at home.

During the story, the audience can see the brother is always beside his father and grows up as fair and strong as him whilst the sister messing up and troubling.  Jem invites her schoolmate against who she had a fight (these details, the son follows his father, are expressed in a delicate way).  The sister picks on the friend whilst he is eating, but the housemaid scolds her strictly.

The mother of this family is dead and it is the housemaid who teaches children adequate manners and keeps them safe while Atticus is away.

In addition, it is a black pastor who leads Jem and Scout at the Tom’s trial and gets them seated upstairs where only blacks are allowed.  Blacks and whites were separated under the law in public at this time in the U.S. and church for black people was dedicated only for those.  With this scene, audience can tell the Finchs having friendly relationships even with black people.

 

On the other hand, Atticus places the white woman who appeals herself violated, as a victim of “non-education”.  Her attitude, crying out hysterically, does not show any refinement.  Atticus points that out strictly.

 

He fights doing his best, but in vain.  After the trial, all black people stand up and watch Atticus leaving court.

This scene is extremely subtle and gives the whole story calm and oppressive atmosphere.

 

From different point of view, this work shows old-fashioned sense of value.

The notion, a son inheriting from his father, and a daughter from her mother, cannot be accepted in modern society, because of gender issues.

At the same time, Tom’s escaping and shot dead could be taken as done by deliberately.

To value this film can be failed in this sense.

 

However, even though these aspects raised above can be pointed out, there is a universal acknowledgement.

The key-person of this film is “Boo”, a withdrawn and closed man who could be difficult to accept.

This is an important issue in Japan of this age.

 

In Japan, “a man with no job, doing nothing” is treated as a danger.  It is difficult for Japanese young man even to go to supermarket for daily shopping nowadays.  “A young man” is supposed to “work at a company during weekdays” and hopefully “to be married and daily shopping is done by his wife”.  This is the notion built by the society.  In other words, “a man without a job, wondering outside during weekdays” is considered to be “incompetent” and to raise awkward feeling among people, even though his off-days might be on weekdays or he could be a freelancer who can schedule his work plan himself.  There is no flexibility of consideration in Japanese society.

Even if there is a person who is in trouble, the man cannot help him or her because of the person being too cautious towards him.

 

The fact the man being recognized as a pre-criminal can cause social problems, rushing towards no margin of freedom.

 

To some, freelance working is suitable, whilst to others company working or shop assistants.

It is easy to imagine for many to force themselves to work at companies whilst they want more freedom to choose, have different part-time jobs and use plan by themselves.

If the final destination of democracy is “managing freedom”, modern Japanese society has been stepping away from it.

 

There is another point to be raised in this story.

Towards the end of the story, Atticus misunderstands that his son who committed a crime, but the marshal notices that “Boo” who committed a manslaughter.

All through the story, the audience recognize Atticus as a “right person”, but this time, marshal has the point.

Any righteous person can make mistakes.

In addition, there are many opinions where democracy develop.

Although strong personality of Atticus is outstanding, the last scene makes the plot multilayered.