Review of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) by Paul D — 06 Nov 2016

I saw this film (and read the book) as a teenager and liked it, and certainly took away from it lessons in morality and the plight of the black man in the deep south that stayed with me vividly during my entire life.

So it was a big shock to me after seeing the movie recently how much I disliked it. So much so that I did what I rarely do, read other reviews before writing my own. I had to do a reality check - how I could I not like this movie, based on an iconic and universally praised book, beloved as both a morality tale and history ? I was relieved to see that two giants, Andrew Sarris and Roger Ebert, also didn't like the film - phew, it isn't just me ! My impressions: stilted movie-making, almost as if they had filmed a stage play; manipulative, superficial moralizing; cartoonish, politically correct caricatures and fantasy scenes.

A real disappointment.