To Kill a Mockingbird is a tricky adaptation, because as with many great books, it delves deeply into several different topics and themes. Condensing the plot and themes into the shorter timeframe of a movie is always challenging, and while they definitely pull it off successfully here, I do think we see a bit more breadth than depth. They did cut several plot points and scenes which were less essential, which was necessary. Even so, we don't get to know the characters and the nuances of their relationships as much as I would like here. The movie is less about the nuanced characters and themes that the book focuses on and simply tells the compelling story of a murder trial of an innocent black man in old money Alabama. It's still well done and I enjoyed it, but one of my favorite elements of the book was seeing the world from Scout's point of view and understanding her perspective as a precocious young woman in that society. We still get a general sense of her character, but don't see as much about her relationship with Jim and how it evolves, or see much development from her across the film. We do spend plenty of time in the courtroom to understand fully what is happening in the case. It's hard to fault the writers too much, and the safe call is definitely prioritizing storytelling as they did, but as a result no other elements stood out or grabbed me. I did also find that the writing suffered a bit from a problem I also had with the novel: that the story feels a bit segmented, with a few sections that don't flow naturally into each other. Still, these are fairly minor qualms and it is a rock solid adaptation of a good story.
Review of To Kill a Mockingbird
