Verified Document

Kill A Mockingbird Movie Review Movie Review

But even though the film's camera work is mainly conventional, it does feature some surreal-looking shots and sequences, e.g., Boo Radley's shadow hovering over Scout's older daredevil brother Jem, as Jem, having intruded on the Radleys, cowers on their front porch in terror. The storytelling is interesting but like the camera work, not especially unconventional on the whole. The story is told in two ways: (1) in voiceovers as Scout, now an adult, looks back; and (2) through the action of the story itself. Even in 1962 this was not a new storytelling technique in film and certainly is not one now. But what is remarkable about these dual storytelling techniques is how well they work together and that with this continuous going backward and forward in time that the movie employs as a narrative strategy, the film never seems jumpy.

Since the story is told entirely through Scout's eyes, though, this would be considered restrictive (the equivalent of 'limited omniscient' in literature) rather than omniscient overall. Sometimes the story moves away from Scout as storyteller, though. An example is when Jem goes with Atticus to tell Tom Robinson's family that Tom has been killed that day. In this scene, the action is revealed to us through Jem's eyes rather than through Scout's eyes.

The film reflects Mulligan's style as a director in several ways. One is the widespread...

Mulligan also likes to dress some of his main male characters it seems, in fashionable (for the time) white suits. For instance, Atticus Finch often wears white suits and so does another character in Mulligan's film the Nickel Ride (1974), Jason Miller.
Mulligan also uses distinctly Southern settings in several films besides to Kill a Mockingbird. Two of these are Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) and the Man in the Moon (1991.

Mulligan also uses kitchens and front porches as family gathering places, in to Kill a Mockingbird and the latter two films.

The film works as both art and entertainment. I liked everything about this film and can honestly think of nothing I disliked. It is an artful, realistic but formalistically rendered movie. Here, Robert Mulligan is at his best, as are the actors, especially Gregory Peck. When I first saw that the film was in black and white, I thought I might dislike that aspect of it. But the film worked well in black and white, and gave an air of stark realism to it, where color would not have done the same.

Works Cited

Robert Mulligan." The Films of Robert Mulligan. 17 Sep 2007. http://members.aol.com/MG4273/mulligan.htm

Scout Remembers." To Kill a Mockingbird: Bonus Feature. Disc1. 1997.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck and Mary

Badham. DVD. 1997.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Robert Mulligan." The Films of Robert Mulligan. 17 Sep 2007. http://members.aol.com/MG4273/mulligan.htm

Scout Remembers." To Kill a Mockingbird: Bonus Feature. Disc1. 1997.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck and Mary

Badham. DVD. 1997.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Representations of African-Americans in Film
Words: 1575 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Mis) representations of African-Americans in film: From the Birth of a Nation onward Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures awarded 12 Years a Slave the title of Best Picture of the year. However, it is important to remember that the development of American cinema, racism, and the perpetuation of African-American stereotypes in film has a long and ignoble history. In the essay "The Good Lynching and Birth of a Nation: Discourses

Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Words: 1471 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

There are stereotypes on both sides of the racial issues raised in this book, and Lee tries to show that both of them are unfair and generalized, and that there were exceptions on both sides of the Black/white controversies and disagreements in the South. Lee uses rape as a shocking way to bring racism to the surface, because sexual relations between a white woman and black man were even more

Setting of This Classic Film
Words: 4932 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Like other symbols of the civil rights movement such as the song "We shall overcome" and peaceful sit-ins, to Kill a Mockingbird quickly assumed a similar position. As the focus of the movie was on right and wrong, the director of this film, Robert Mulligan, provided the American movie viewing public with a strong lesson in justice but he was also able, largely through the character of Atticus Finch, to

Horton Foote and to Kill a Mockingbird
Words: 2278 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Paper

Horton Foote and "To Kill a Mockingbird" Horton Foote Some aspects of a literary work are often revealed through the author's biography. Horton Foote is no exception, as his biography reveals a thoughtful Southern writer who could brilliantly capture life's conflicts, triumphs and defeats. Both honored and criticized, Foote remained a considerate chronicler of humanity whose work is still admired decades after publication and whose life is an inspiration. Horton Foote (March 14,

Suffering for Our Cinematic Sins: John Coffey
Words: 1694 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Suffering for Our Cinematic Sins: John Coffey in "The Green Mile" While both films "The Green Mile" (1999) and "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) have prison settings, and the same director, these two film's overarching ideological agendas stand in striking contrast. "The Green Mile" uses the Christ myth of a singular, suffering (black) savior that can redeem white society. "The Shawshank Redemption" presents a morally ambiguous notion of salvation, that all individuals must

Diversity Exercise 5: Population Survey It Was
Words: 4243 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

Diversity Exercise 5: Population Survey It was in October 1997 that the Office of Management and Budget or the OMB announced that the standards for the gathering of federal data on race and ethnicity in the United States of America would be changed from thenceforth, and that the minimum categories for race would be form then onwards, divided into the following categories: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African-American; Native

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now