To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 film based on the novel by Harper Lee (1960). The film opens with a child opening a toy chest containing wooden dolls, jacks and marbles, loose crayons, a pocket watch engraved “to Atticus my beloved husband”, a whistle, and a harmonica. The Child draws a bird and colors it in. When the child is done with the illustration, they giggle and rip it right down the middle, tearing apart the bird. The items in the toy chest can be seen throughout the film as little scene tokens and hidden gems; it’s like playing “I Spy,” while watching a film. Some of the items have more meaning than others which have little to no meaning at all.

The setting of this story takes place in Maycomb, AL. The introduction is narrated by six-year old Scout. She’s playing outside when Mr. Cunningham comes by to drop off some hickory nuts as payment for the legal work done by her father, Atticus Finch. See, Mr. Cunningham is a poor country man who works as a farmers and owns his land. The year is 1932. note: after the Great Depression. One of their neighbors, Ms. Atkinson, is in her front yard watering her plants. She tells the children, Scout and her older brother, Jem to count their blessings and stop complaining because their father can’t play games with them or eat breakfast together. They should be so grateful that he’s a hard working man.

Continue reading “To Kill a Mockingbird #LiteraryFilmReview” →