To Kill a Mockingbird

The neighboring village has a multi-purpose theatre that shows concerts, plays, and films and the films usually only run for one night. When I was here alone I would go often to see whatever they were showing and what I like about their selection is that it is not usually a Hollywood blockbuster but some quiet world cinema selection. The fact that the movie shows for just one night also makes the experience a little more special than your average cinema experience. I noticed on their website that they were screening To Kill a Mockingbird this week for one night and I told A that I didn’t care if she wanted to go or not she was going with me. I didn’t think I could get her to read the book but because the adaptation is so good, I wanted her to see the film. To Kill A Mockingbird was the first “required reading for school” book that I ever read that I fell in love with. It opened up a whole new world to me and for that reason, I will always love it. I bought a used copy last year here at a charity shop before I went home for Christmas and when I took it to the counter the sarcastic clerk said something to me like “and you always wanted to read it right?” It was blasphemy! Don’t get sarcastic about Atticus Finch!

A was in quite a mood this week, for reasons she wouldn’t share so when the night arrived to go see the film, I gave her the choice of going or not because I didn’t want the experience ruined. She went with me. The movie was being shown as part of a fair-trade film festival and I couldn’t get the connection. Before the film one of the organizers explained that they were showing the film because it was about injustice, but before the film started they wanted to run a short about fair trade cotton production. When the short began I turned to A and said “You studied fair trade at school recently didn’t you?” And her response was, with absolute disgust, “Yeah and it was boring there too”. I started laughing which made her realize just what a pain in the neck she was being which also made her laugh. The mood lightened significantly.

The theatre was packed and in spite of the print of the film being in really poor shape (it even snapped at the crucial Walter Cunningham syrup scene and had to be mended) everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess I was surprised to see so many Brits come out for a movie about injustice in the American South. I got teary eyed during those beautiful opening credits. On the way home A did tell me that she really liked it and was glad she went. Obviously the stories transformative powers worked on her too.