I had eagerly awaited the movie as the book was an absolute masterpiece. I was rather disappointed.
My guess is that people who have not read the book will like the movie. It is well acted and makes for a good story -- just a different one from the story written in the book.
One semi major character is changed from a very complicated person -- sympathetic but hardly enlightened or heroic -- to something entirely different -- a converted true believer. Other characters simply become flatter and more "stock" than in the book -- though that may be inevitable when adapting a novel written in three first person voices into a movie.
The main problem with the movie is that it really does not attempt to capture the violence, brutality and fear of the period. In the book these things hang over the characters and there is a real sense of danger. In the movie "danger" is spoken of but hardly palpable. Segregationists (aside from the one villain, Hilly) appear more rude than brutal. As a (white) southern man who lived in that era I know it was a lot tougher than that.
Overall, it is a good movie. If the source material did not exist I'd rate it higher. But being adapted from a much more nuanced and stronger work, it suffers in comparison.
See it. But read the book. And especially take young people to see it who may not be willing to read the book first. Because even glossed over, it does show a side of American history that the younger generation may not fully appreciate. Maybe it will spark discussion and maybe some of them will read the book for a fuller understanding of how things used to be.
My guess is that people who have not read the book will like the movie. It is well acted and makes for a good story -- just a different one from the story written in the book.
One semi major character is changed from a very complicated person -- sympathetic but hardly enlightened or heroic -- to something entirely different -- a converted true believer. Other characters simply become flatter and more "stock" than in the book -- though that may be inevitable when adapting a novel written in three first person voices into a movie.
The main problem with the movie is that it really does not attempt to capture the violence, brutality and fear of the period. In the book these things hang over the characters and there is a real sense of danger. In the movie "danger" is spoken of but hardly palpable. Segregationists (aside from the one villain, Hilly) appear more rude than brutal. As a (white) southern man who lived in that era I know it was a lot tougher than that.
Overall, it is a good movie. If the source material did not exist I'd rate it higher. But being adapted from a much more nuanced and stronger work, it suffers in comparison.
See it. But read the book. And especially take young people to see it who may not be willing to read the book first. Because even glossed over, it does show a side of American history that the younger generation may not fully appreciate. Maybe it will spark discussion and maybe some of them will read the book for a fuller understanding of how things used to be.