To Kill a Mockingbird is considered as one of the most famous books in American literature and was made into a movie. The film is based on a Southern Gothic novel by Harper Lee. The film includes the famous Gregory Peck and Brock Peters. I recommend reading the book before seeing the movie because although the movie covers most of the themes shown in the book, there are still a couple of scenes that were not included.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman novel about a young girl called Scout who grew up in the South of the U.S. The book was set in the 1930s during the great depression. The protagonist, Scout, expresses how it is to live in a racist and prejudiced state like Alabama. Her father, Atticus, is a well known lawyer in Maycomb County. One day he was given a case to defend a black man who was accused of raping a white woman. The trial was very biased and Tom Robinson (the accused man) ended up being killed by the police in jail. The guards claim that they only shot him because he was trying to escape. He was in a tough position because he would have faced death anyways.
One of the differences between the movie and the book is that we cannot really see the progression of how Scout is maturing. That is because the movie focuses on the parts of the book where there is more action. For example, in the movie, they did not add the part when Scout was getting bullied because people at school were calling her and her father nigger-lovers. She later on went to Atticus to ask if it was true and he said yes. Then, Atticus told Scout to not get into fights at school because of what other people are saying about him. Scout later on shows a sign of maturity and does not get into any more fights as her father advised her too. I think that this part of the book is important because it characterizes the progression of Scout’s personality.
Another very important scene that was left out of the movie is when Dill escaped from his house in the Meridian. After he escaped his home, he went to Maycomb County and hid under Scout’s bed. After he was discovered, he said that the only reason he escaped was because his father disliked him. But we all know that he escaped because he wanted to spend time with Scout. This is a very important scene because it shows that Dill displays many of the coming of age characteristics like testing boundaries.
The movie also left out the part when Boo Radley, Scout’s neighbor, puts a blanket over Scout when he realizes she is cold. This occurred when there was a fire at Miss Maudie’s house and everyone was panicking. Scout didn’t realize that he had put the blanket on top of her until after the whole incident. This is a very important scene because it tells a lot about Boo Radley. For example, after reading this scene, I realized that Boo Radley was not that crazy kid who stabbed his father and that he has a heart.
Although I enjoyed watching the To Kill a Mockingbird film, I think that they should have spent more time planning and deciding which parts to include because many of the most important scenes were not included. For example, the movie did not include Aunt Alexandra (Atticus’s sister) or even the whole incident with Miss Dubose (wrathful neighbor). The movie would have been better if they would have made it in two parts.
Despite the fact that the movie disregarded several scenes, Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book and does not deserve to have that reputation taken away by the couple of scenes that were not included. I would give the movie a rating of 3.5/5.
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