To Kill a Mockingbird: Movie Analysis Essay

Introduction

The main protagonist of the film is Atticus Finch, a middle-aged lawyer, a widower, and two children. The antagonist of this story is the peasant Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella. This man pretends to blame a black man for having raped his daughter to prevent the fact that his daughter had wanted a black man. Atticus Finch will be the lawyer of the black man, Tom Robinson, and Bob angered, will try to terrorize his defenseless children to prevent Finch from defending Robinson (Baker, 2019). The protagonist is helped by his children and the people around him. He is also supported by the majority of the group of black people, and by a small number of people with liberal ideologies. However, he is opposed by a large part of the peasantry, for sympathy with his guildmate Bob and the most intolerant and conservative social classes.

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This film is not about the judicial system of the southern United States, despite the fact that the trial occupies a large part of the plot, but a moral system loaded with prejudices. The virtues that are exalted are not those of the lawyer ready, ingenious, and knowledgeable of the legal system, but those of the new generation that, through the lawyer, Atticus, learns to internalize another morality (Lee, 2015). First of all, the title of the film has to do with parallelism, a metaphor that is observed in the course of the film. Soon after starting, Father Atticus, while having a family conversation with his children, explains that the nightingales are birds that do not harm anyone badly, they only delight in their song, and they are harmless. Therefore, it is considered a moral crime to kill a nightingale. This parallelism is found at the end of the film, where Arthur, or "Boo", as he was rather known, is released from jail for killing Bob, a poor innocent man only concerned for his children (Baker, 2019). However, in the course of his frustrated attempt to escape, he dies by the bullets of his guards, anticipating the fate that had already been prepared for him.

The movie keeps the viewer on the edge with the intrigue of the meaning of the title the mystery about the identity of Boo and the relationship he has with children. The images of the film, although are in the black and white format, seem quite good since, taking into account the production year, they manage to produce effects of intrigue, suspense without the need to use special effects or additional mechanisms like movies today. In most of the scenes, chiaroscuro predominates since many of the scenes occur at night. In the day scenes, the tonal light is more appreciated. The film could be classified within the genre of suspense with certain features of police and autobiographical. This is a powerful film, moving, stunning, which addresses as well the childhood, the fear of the foreigner, the right to difference, the appalling conditions of blacks during segregation (and especially in the southern US) and injustice. It also addresses the American judicial system, the legal profession, and the family system.

Response 1: 12 Angry Men

The student has provided an insightful and detailed analysis of the film. The plot and review of the film have been provided making one know what the film is all about even without watching it. First, it is interesting how the student has approached the film from a psychological viewpoint and contemplated how the human being configures his/her judgments starting on many occasions from pre-judgments or from superficiality and adaptation to them in what is observed as a lack of reflection. The student is able to show that the movie 12 Angry Men is above all a great film that puts us on guard against the gratuitousness of the judgments that we apply in our ordinary life and of which we ourselves, on a more internal level, are also victims through that psychic entity. It is also interesting that the student mentions the fact that the film takes place almost completely inside the room where men are taken to deliberate, letting the performances, the direction, and, especially, the work of the scriptwriter, be the pillars of the story where the words, the looks, and the gestures are loaded with meaning. The play on words, manipulation, pressure, and ethics take a strong presence during the process. The most important thing to remember is that this analysis and decision-making is applicable to anyone at any time in their life. It is not just a film about a jury deliberation criticizing and highlighting the judicial process (in the United States, but also applicable and resonant in the processes of any country), but at any time of dispute and questioning between people or in the same life decisions. Overall, this is a great review that has a beginning and conclusion.

Response 2: Gone With the Wind

First, the student starts by providing the plot and summary of the film. The summary is short, precise, but clear enough to enable the reader to know what the film is all about. The student mentions the expressiveness and universality of this story that goes along much more important paths than its historical backdrop or its social background. It is interesting that the eternal youth of this film has not been disregarded. That despite the fact that several audiovisual revolutions have taken place in the cinema that has transformed it to almost unrecognizable, this film remains there as an example to follow, not only in terms of epic, grandiloquent, or melodramatic cinema but above all in of the purely audiovisual narration, as for the delicate drawing of the characters, as for the emotional commotion that supposes its nth viewing. The writing and analysis are easy, uncomplicated, and fluid. However, I believe that the student should have mentioned the development of the characters and the daring to explore another vision themes such as the racial question and the KKK (Klu Klux Klan), which are the apex of the film. Nonetheless, it is still an enjoyable, interesting, informative, and detailed analysis.

References

Baker, F. (2019).To Kill A Mockingbird: Introduction. Retrieved from https://frankwbaker.com/mlc/mockingbird-introduction/ on 6th July 2019.

Lee, M. (2015). To Kill a Mockingbird, film review. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/19/to-kill-a-mockingbird-film-review/ on 6th July 2019.