To Kill a Mockingbird

For my last 81 for 81, I chose my number 1 personal favorite film that I think pushed the envelope in terms of content and message.  I first saw this Oscar® winner (based on the story by Harper Lee) as a child, as many people do, and it changed the way I looked at the world, as I’m sure it does for many people. The story of a daughter recollecting her father’s defense of a black man who has been wrongly accused of rape is a true testament to doing what’s right. A clear example of standing up against injustice and prejudice, Atticus Finch is every little girl’s hero (and should be!)

I distinctly remember watching the final court room scene where Atticus proves that Jim is innocent when he has him catch a ball to prove which hand is his dominant hand - and thus that he couldn’t have committed the murder.   Atticus Finch’s closing argument has inspired many and will continue to do so for years to come.  And because this is my last 81 for 81, I’m going to be a bit indulgent and go ahead and past the entirety of that speech.

To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place… It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses, whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewel was beaten - savagely, by someone who led exclusively with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses… his RIGHT. I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say “guilt,” gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She’s committed no crime - she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did. Now, what did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that, in our society, is unspeakable. She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption… the evil assumption that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women. An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie, which I do not need to point out to you. And so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against TWO white people’s! The defendant is not guilty - but somebody in this courtroom is. Now, gentlemen, in this country, our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system - that’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality! Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review, without passion, the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision and restore this man to his family. In the name of GOD, do your duty. In the name of God, believe… Tom Robinson.

Sigh - this makes me want to watch the film right now!  It never loses its luster, it never gets old and it makes me want to embrace the part of me that is still a but of an idealist.

Also of note is that director Robert Mulligan passed away this past year - so perhaps we will get another chance to honor To Kill a Mockingbird tonight during the In Memorium at the Oscars.

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart with the NAACP to make sure that all men continue to be treated equally.

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