Film review – to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee

‘To kill a mockingbird’ was written by Harper Lee in 1959, and was directed by Robert Mulligan in 1962.

Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) is a lawyer and widower, raising two small children: Scout (Mary Badham) and her older brother Jem (Phillip Alford). One summer a boy by the name of Dill (John Megna) comes to live next door with his aunt Stephanie (Alice Ghostley). The children become friends and spend the whole summer together, their childlike adventures seeming unaffected by the adult world around them. But soon you start to realise that their games and adventures have been affected by the adult world, for the children begin to learn the importance social acceptance. It can make or break your life.

Horton Foote who was the script writer for ‘to kill a mockingbird’ did a fantastic job. The script is not far from the book. Which I think was great because Harper Lee did a great job. It also makes the movie much more likable for those who have read the book, which is very hard to do because the book is always better than the movie. It would have been difficult though for Horton Foote because scout is telling the story and although there is talking some of it is scouts thinking process which is hard to turn into scripture.

Gregory Peck was made to play Atticus Finch; he did a marvellous and flawless job. There is not one thing that he had to improve on. He was so believable if you told me that it was Atticus Finch playing himself I would believe you. Mary Badham and Phillip Alford who played scout and jem also played very believable characters. These three outstanding actors made the movie ebb and flow, taking a long movie and making it seem quite short. Also Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson, moved me and the rest of the audience I believe when he talked in the court room. He acted with great feeling, making it seem as though you were in that court room by his side seeing the injustice of the whole situation. Overall whoever casted the movie did a fantastic job. There’s not many movies that I have seen were every actor has become their character so completely.

The cinematography was brilliantly done. Although it was restricted because it was in black and white. Still the movie had a beautiful angle and lighting. So it was very good considering the unavoidable restriction of technology. Of all black and white movies that I have seen I must say that this was the best. The movie had perfect lighting which gave the movie an open and realistic feel that a lot of black and movies don’t have because of lighting restrictions.

This movie not only makes you sympathize with those who were being discriminated against, but also those who were defending them. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ forces you to see the injustice of discrimination and inadvertently makes you relate to the characters, even if you wouldn’t usually relate to them. Overall it was a fantastic movie that combined logic with feeling and causes the watcher to think about history that is not romantic in any sense of the word. The movie brings new meaning to ‘Out of sight and out of mind’ it forces you to realise that repressing problems of any sort just means that they continue to fester until a great injustice is done.

Question Sheet Two Act Two and Act Three

1)
a. That the nurse has not yet returned and her thoughts of romeo wont stop the sun is not fast enough neither is her nurse

b. Cupid is a symbol of love, but apparently as it is mentioned here it means speed

c. No i just think that because they haven't had the life experiences that you get with age that young people are more foolhardy in love.

2)
a. That because of the effect of love, turning intelligent people into crazy morons, that Romeo and Juliet should be careful in their actions because although love is awesome your stupidity in love can kill you.

b. Therefore love moderately. long love doth so.
To swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

The Friar is once again telling Romeo and Juliet to be careful. He is telling them to take it slowly to savor it rather than just jump into things blindly. Yes he has given romeo similar advice

3)
a. Romeo is being nice and Tybalt is taking it as mockery and telling Romeo to draw his sword and fight him.

b. Romeo is nice to Tybalt because they are family now. Tybalt is his cousin through marriage, and family is very important. He also would not want to hurt Juliet.

c. And so, good Capulet, which name i tender
As dearly as mine own, be satisfied

Romeo means that although they were enemies he now loves him as he loves his own family and that that declaration should satisfy Tybalt.

4)
a. Mercutio means that tomorrow he will be seriously dead

b. Romeo because he tried to come between the two fighters

c. Mercutio is cursing both their houses because of their fighting he is dying.

d. This day's black fate on more days doth depend.
This but begins the woe others must end.

O, I am fortune's fool!

Romeo means that because of this sorrowful event more sorrow must follow it. It will not just end, others will end it with more sorrow. he killed Tybalt even though just before he was talking about how he knew this was not the end of the sorrow yet he causes more. hes not the smartest cookie in the jar. fate is talked about all the time.

Question Sheet One Act Two

1)
a. Romeo has fallen in love with juliet and does not want to leave with his friends so he hides from them in an orchard. his friends know he is hiding and start teasing him about rosaline. then romeo goes and spies on juliet. they then declare their love to one another. they are to be married. juliet is called away and romeo leaves.

b. That romeo is a montegue and therefore her enemy but that she loves him anyway, she wishes he had a different name so that they could be together or if he will not change his she will change hers so that they may be together.

c. Whats in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So romeo would, where he not romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. romeo doff thy name


Whats does a name mean
A rose would smell as sweet no
Matter what it was called
So no matter what romeo was
Called he would still be perfect
Change your name romeo

2)
a. I have nights cloak to hide me from their eyes.
And thou love me, let them find me here.
My life better ended by their hate
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

b. Nights darkness will protect me from being seen.
Unless you love me let them find me here.
It would be better to be killed by there hate,
Than living without your love

c. He doesnt care about his own life just juliets love. if juliet doesn't love him he doesn't want to live

3)
a. The friar is suggesting that romeo spent the night in rosalines bed

b. Romeo is saying that although he didn't sleep he had better rest because he spent the night with his beloved.

4)
a. The friar is suggesting that romeo is fickle because just a day ago he was in love with rosaline maybe he should wait.

b. So soon forsaken? young mens love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.

Your love is thrown aside? then young mens loving is a lie
Its not in what they feel, but what they see

c. Woman may fall when theres no strength in men

Woman fall from grace when men aren't strong enough to keep them there

5)
The friar decides to help romeo marry juliet in the hope that it will stop the war between the households

6)
a. O, let us hence! i stand on sudden haste.
Wisely and slow. they stumble that run fast

Quickly! let us go quickly
Wise and slow. those that run fast fall

b. He wants to get married so fast they've barely had 2 conversations and he wants to get married not hours ago he was head over heals 'in love' with rosaline.

statement of intention

My statement of intention is to create a character that is an untrustworthy narrator.

My characters name is Theresa Kingsly. She is about 12 she travels with her family in a gypsy troupe of about 20 different families which amounts to about 75 people. She lives with her family in a beautiful caravan. Her family includes her mother and father, her younger brother and her grandfather and grandmother. Her mother is a gypsy healer so there caravan is full of herbs and different concoctions that her mother makes to help the sick. Her father is a high gypsy elder and often decides when the troupe leaves and where it goes. Her younger brother is 9 and is very mischievous and is always getting in trouble with the elders. Her grandfather is quite old and doesn’t usually leave the caravan because he is blind, her grandfather is her favourite. Her grandmother wanders much of the time and has the gift of sight but she is much respected.

Theresa is unreliable because although her father is involved in the secrets of the troupe, he is not permitted to tell anyone under age. When you turn 18 you are told about the secrets of the tribe. But until then the children are left to work it out themselves.

The characteristics of Theresa will be: she is very impatient and unable to read peoples body language and the tone of their voices. She will be clumsy. Force is the only way she knows how to deal with people and she often has tantrums. She has a winy voice and a limited vocabulary. She has a slight lisp that infuriates her and she is often trying very hard not to lisp her words. So her sentances are very short and direct and she often talks really slowly and pauses when shes trying to find a word that she can say clearly. Except when she is fighting about something she is really passsionate about. Theresa is a bit of a loner. Because of her lisp she is very shy and doesn’t talk to people outside her family. So she spends a lot of time in her families caravan talking to her grandfather talking about anything.

Theresa often goes to spy on the adults when they have there secret meetings. Hearing only snipets of their converstions. She then muls over them trying to work out what it could mean. After that she will try to indorectly talk to her grandfather about what she thinks, but theresa isnt very tactfull.

mini essay

In the novel ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell we are confronted with the blatant use of manipulation, distortion of the truth and the willingness to lie and kill to maintain the control of others. This power struggle is retained all through the book but is very significant in chapter six and seven. Many of the characters in ‘animal farm’ fall victim to Napoleons tactics that are used to retain his control of ‘animal farm’; Napoleon bans the song ‘The Beasts of England’, the changing of the 10 commandments and the mass killings.

The first act of suppression often is something very small and insignificant. So that it builds up to something really big but because its been so gradual no one really notices until its to late. Like not being allowed to go out after dark or a song may be banned. Although in the scheme of things this may seem tiny and irrelevant, the suppression can only grow. When Napoleon bans the song ‘The Beasts of England’ no one really thought twice about it because it is so small. “It's no longer needed, comrade, In 'Beasts of England' we expressed our longing for a better society in days to come.
But that society has now been established. Clearly this song has no longer
any purpose.” Squealer says this to the animals after announcing that beasts of England, this of course is only the first of many things that become ‘frowned upon (banned)’ this small thing just leads the pigs to change the rules for their benefits.

Power and manipulation come hand in hand because to get one you must use the other. Power is a dominant theme in animal farm. Usually surrounding the pigs as they manipulate the other animals too think they are acting to do what best for them when what they’re doing is what’s best for the pigs. Squealer is often convincing the animals to think that napoleon is doing what best for them even if it means he has to li

e. 'A most terrible thing has been discovered. Snowball has sold himself to Frederick of Pinchfield Farm' squealer lies to the animals to set them against snowball to manipulate them into thinking napoleon did he right thing when he ran snowball off the farm. This is just one example of the lies and distortions of the truth, so that animals can have no doubts about the ‘Great Leader Napoleon’. And when the animals start to disagree or when the pigs believe there is a threat of some kind they make examples of innocent animals by killing them. Death is a horrible and unnecessary way of keeping people in line. Napoleon kills many animals because they have ‘betrayed’ animal farm. The pigs are always talking about how napoleon is only looking after them and that he only has their interests at heart when really he is only ever thinking of himself, and when he thinks that his lavish lifestyle is under threat he finds a new and more effective way to instil fear in his ‘comrades’ so that his power will never be taken away from him. “I do not understand it. I would not have believed that such things could
happen on our farm.” Boxer says this after the mass killing. He is shocked because one of the Ten Commandments is ‘No animal shall kill any other animal.’ This commandment and many others begin to be broken and changed by only the pigs. In the early days of the rebellion no one would have ever dreamed such a thing would happen on animal farm why would animals kill each other it’s barbaric.

Animal farm is based on actual events that happened during the Russian revolution. Chapter 6 and 7 are very significant because it is when the pigs start breaking the most basic rules for there own benefits, and because this is when you start to see the relationship between the power and suppression because one cannot occur without the other. The pigs use every tactic to remain in power and the other animals are suppressed in the process. So in the novel ‘animal farm’ it seems that everyone is afraid of something, the pigs are afraid of the animals revolting and taking away there power and the animals are afraid of the pigs taking away the idea of there precious animal farm (weather or not the animal farm is actually there dream) so in the end the pigs become what they hate and loathe the people they feared in the first place.

Chapter 8
Main Events

• relationships between the neighbouring farms remain complex
• the windmill is completed in autumn
• the animals are suprised when napolean announces he is going to sell the wood to the humans
• there is anbush on animal farm
• the people blow up the windmill

Quotes

• "Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days"
• Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!"
• "We have built the walls far too thick for that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!"
• "Do you not see what they are doing? In another moment they are going to pack blasting powder into that hole."
• "What is that gun firing for?"

Chapter Title - the battle of the windmill

Chapter 9

Main Events

• they start rebuilding the windmill
• rations are reduced again
• boxer collapses
• boxer is taken away to the glue factory
• napolian tells the animals that boxer was not taken away to the slaughter but shiped to the vet

Quotes

• It does not matter. I think you will be able to finish the windmill without me. There is a pretty good store of stone accumulated. I had only another month to go in any case. To tell you the truth, I had been looking forward to my retirement. And
  perhaps, as Benjamin is growing old too, they will let him retire at the same time and be a companion to me."
• Run, somebody, and tell Squealer what has happened."
• "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?"
• "'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.' Do you not understand what that means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker's!"
• "Boxer! Get out! Get out quickly! They're taking you to your death!"
  

Chapter Title - to death, by car

Chapter 10
Main events

• years pass and only a few of the animals remember life before the rebellion
• the windmill is completed
• squeeler takes all the sheep on the farm away for a few days
• the pigs begin to walk on two legs and ware cloths and carry whips
• the pigs have a dinner party and envite the neighbouring farmers and there wives
• they rename 'animal farm' back to 'manor farm'
• the animals can no longer tell the difference between animals and pigs

Quotes

• "Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!"
• "My sight is failing," she said finally. "Even when I was young I could not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?"
• "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS"
• "gentlemen, I give you a toast: To the prosperity of Animal Farm!"
• "I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm! "
  

Chapter Title - equality is finally distorted

more chapter summaries

Chapter 6

Main Events

• the animals are asked to work on sunday volentarily but those who didnt had there rationas halved.
• the animals are running out of supplies.
• Napoleon engages a local solicitor to act as the middleman between Animal Farm and the outside world.
• the pigs moved into the farmhouse.
• a nightime storm distroys the windmill

Quotes

• "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right,"
• "Are you certain that this is not something that you have dreamed, comrades? Have you any record of such a resolution? Is it written down anywhere?"
• "read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?"
• "It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,"'
• "You have heard then, comrades," he said, "that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too! But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, comrades, with all the brainwork we have to do nowadays. You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?"

Chapter Title - Rule Breaker?

Chapter 7

Main Events

• It becomes winter and the animals are threatened with starvation
• the hens are aked to give up there eggs
• the hens revolt and say that they wont
• the hens' food supply is cut off
• the mass killing
• 'the beasts of england' is banned and replaced with 'animal famr'

Quotes

• 'a most terrible thing has been discovered. Snowball has sold himself to Frederick of Pinchfield Farm'
• "I do not believe that," he said. "Snowball fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. I saw him myself. Did we not give him 'Animal Hero, first Class,'
• "That was our mistake, comrade. For we know now--it is all written down in the secret documents that we have found--that in reality he was trying to lure us to our doom."
• "But he was wounded," said Boxer. "We all saw him running with blood."
• "That was part of the arrangement!" cried Squealer. "Jones's shot only grazed him. I could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to read it.'

Chapter Title - beasts of england no more