2. To Kill A Mockingbird
1962's To Kill A Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is in many ways more of a coming of age story for the character of Scout (Mary Badham), living in a small Alabama town in the 1930s with her older brother Jem (Phillip Alford), than a courtroom drama. However, an important part of her story is the witnessing her father, lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), defending a black man, Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell (Collin Wilcox Paxton). Atticus attracts the hatred of the people in the town but he stands firm in trying to save Robinson. The film perfectly captures the racism of the time in the United States at the time, and like Inherit The Wind, still feels relevant today as we continually battle racism and prejudice. While it becomes clear that Mayella was the one who forced herself on Tom, and then said Tom raped her to hide the fact she was intimate with a black man, the jury still convicts Robinson. Robinson is then shot when he tries to escape from prison, but as tragic as Robinson's fate is, the film is still optimistic about humanity's goodness. Finch symbolises the pure nobility that can be found in the human spirit, and Peck, in his Oscar winning role for Best Actor, truly captures the character Lee created on the page. For the many who've read the book, I think it's hard to separate Peck and the character of Finch. His closing argument speech where he pleads to the jury to free Tom Robinson, is both a highlight of the film and Peck's career. I had the pleasure of seeing the film in a theatre recently and it was like seeing the film for the first time. It was more achingly poignant than ever. The scene where a mob comes to the jailhouse where Tom is being held, with Atticus standing guard, takes an ironic turn when Scout shows up and recognises a man as the father of one her classmates. This moment reveals how the face of racism can belong to someone we know. The film is also a great representation of a child learning and understanding what a great noble man her father truly is.