20 Most Inspiring Movies Of All-Time
5. To Kill A Mockingbird
Gregory Peck: now there was an actor. An actor who represented the American Dream and who, in Atticus Finch, showed us a man who would fight injustice with dignity, strength and politeness. This is the film which many of us first saw in school and, maybe because we were being forced to study the book, never quite got the brilliance of the movie but, if you havent since, go back to this film and youll be inspired and touched by a brilliant piece of work.
The film centres on Scout Finch and her brother Jem in 1930s Alabama. Their father, Atticus, is a local lawyer who is appointed to defend a young black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping and beating a young white girl. As the case continues, it becomes apparent that it was in fact the girls father, Bob Ewell, who beat her and it is police incompetence has put Tom in the dock but Tom, in sympathising for the young girl, is sent down and later dies in an apparent escape attempt.
When Scout and Jem are returning home from a Halloween party they are attacked by a man, who later turns out to be Bob Ewell, but are saved by the loner Boo Radley (Robert Duvall). It is agreed that the lonely Boo should not be dragged into the public spotlight as a hero for, as Scout says, it would be akin to killing a mockingbird. This is an important film which deals with race, childhood and the views of those we dont know.
The white people in the town believe they are above any black person so when Tom says he felt sorry for the young girl, that angers the white folk more than the apparent attack. Atticus is the beating heart to the whole film though and with Boo Radley as his opposite, it is clear that this is a film about acceptance in trying times and perhaps that is something, in 2014, we need to think about more than ever.