Forrest Gump
I've never seen anyone like Forrest Gump in a movie before, and for that matter, I've never seen a movie quite like “Forrest Gump''. Any attempt to describe him would risk making the movie seem more conventional than it is, but let me try. It's a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Even a dream…. Truly a classic film. Completely worthy of all praise and Oscars it received. Forrest Gump had thirteen Oscar nominations.
To begin with, Tom Hanks is a big reason why Forrest is so endearing. This is one of the best performances of his great career. It seems too difficult to believe he can outdo his performance as Forrest. The story is also so riveting, entertaining, and touching. It's not that there is too much sentimentality at all in this picture. If you feel that way about this film, then you are quite a cold-hearted individual. You can't help but be touched by the moments and Forrest’s actions and reactions to them. Of course, as is the case with almost all the classics, the supporting cast is awesome. Whom to mention? Bubba, Lt. Dan, Momma and of course Jenny... who can forget her…(Every man has his own jenny and suffers). Those are some of the most memorable supporting characters of any film ever made. You're in for a real treat if you are yet to watch it and if you have seen it you know you will enjoy it again and again. It has a timeless quality to say the least. This film gets better with age.
Tom Hanks may be the only actor who could have played the role. I can't think of anyone else as Gump, after seeing how Hanks makes him into a person so dignified, so straight-ahead. The performance is a breathtaking, balancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story rich in big laughs and quiet truths.
Simple is the description used for the Forrest Gump character but Gump's below average IQ does not keep him from realizing the American Dream of success. ''Gumption'' is a term used in the Southern United States to describe a special tenacity of character, a person who survives life's tribulations with courage, ingenuity and integrity. Gump was born with ''gumption.''
Born to an Alabama boarding house owner, who tries to correct his posture by making him wear braces and to sleeping with school principal for his school admission but never criticizes his mind. When Forrest is called ''stupid'', his mother tells him, ''Stupid is as stupid does.''. Transformed into a sporting and military hero, Gump meets successive presidents, achieves great wealth, gains recognition on the cover of national magazines and marries if albeit too late, the girl of his dreams. But does Forrest Gump suffer from an intellectual disability? Well yes, but this is a minor inconvenience. He turns out to be incapable of doing anything less than profound. Also, when the braces finally fall from his legs, it turns out he can run like the wind. That's how he gets a college football scholarship, in a life story that eventually becomes a running gag about his good luck. Gump, the football hero, becomes Gump, the Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, and then Gump, the Ping-Pong champion, Gump, the shrimp boat captain, Gump, the millionaire stockholder (he gets shares in a new ''fruit company'' named Apple Computer), and Gump, the man who runs across America and then retraces his steps. It could be argued that with his IQ of 75, Forrest does not quite understand everything that happens to him. Not so. He understands everything he needs to know, and the rest, the movie suggests, is just surplus. He even understands everything that's important about love, although Jenny (Robin Wright), the girl he falls in love with in grade school and never falls out of love with, tells him, ''Forrest, you don't know what love is.'' She's a stripper by that time. The movie is ingenious in taking Forrest on his tour of recent American history. As Forrest's life becomes a guided tour of straight-arrow America, Jenny goes on a parallel tour of the counterculture. She goes to California, of course, and drops out, tunes in, and turns on. Eventually it becomes clear that between them, Forrest and Jenny have covered all of the landmarks of our recent cultural history, and the accommodation they arrive at in the end is like a dream of reconciliation for our society. What a magical movie.
Gump has made an entry into literature and cinema's holy fools suffering from a range of intellectual and physical disabilities. His rise from rags to riches extols the view that disability should be understood as difference, possibly eccentricity, but emphasis should be on the person's individual ability not on their ''handicap.'' Does Gump's story of exceptional achievement reflect changing and more progressive attitudes towards disability or rather, is it about a mythical new disability, which really only exists in the preconceptions of others, and can be self supporting without institutional care or government support? Characters with a disability offer a good opportunity to gain the Oscar-winning approval of peers. The Forrest Gump fairy-tale character is emotionally and physically monogamous while waiting for his childhood sweetheart to take him in her arms. As a college student, she unsuccessfully tries to introduce him to sex. Eventually he accepts the offer and a child is produced as the result of one sexual union. Later, we assume that her AIDS will interfere with any other sexual advances hence providing a romantic resolution to a potentially messy plot point because Gump and the girl get married.
With the outstanding success of films Forrest Gump, disability has become a worthy subject and more importantly, good box office for major Hollywood studios and actors. But many of theses films also perpetuate a stereotype of a neutered and sanitised disability, and one that can be very productive in economic terms Forrest Gump seem to suggest, under the right circumstances, people with disabilities will make a lot of money, despite physical and intellectual disability. They will be able to pay their own way either by inheriting wealth, gambling, lotteries and/or by being shrimp entrepreneurs. This is the real affliction fable. But one thing is certain, gumption, luck and film makers good intentions cannot solve the dilemma of how a responsible and mature society will continue to assist people with physical and intellectual disabilities who will continue to require government funding, long term institutional care and are deserving, as is every person's right, of access to a reasonable quality of life.
Moments of the Movie
Mama says “Life is full of Chocolates”. Indeed life is full of chocolate. You do not know when you are in for a surprise.
When he meets Jenny during his post Vietnam war speech. He runs shouting “Jenny, Jenny and hugs her” Guys you need to watch this. I bet you would shed tears.
“Bubba Momma no longer works as a maid but she has a maid for herself”. Cool that’s Friendship. He keeps up to his promise made to Bubba.
Lt. Dan saying, “Forrest thanks for saving me” and he jumps into the sea and swims. What a moment to cherish.
Forrest goes to meet jenny and ultimately meeting his son. Forrest asks jenny “What his name” and jenny says, “His name is Forrest. I named him after his father”. Forrest says “His father name is also Forrest”. Jenny says “Oh Forrest! You are his father”. Tom hanks at his best. Watch out his acting guys. Tom hanks I love you.
When Jenny dies, Tom says to her in grave, “I miss you jenny, if there is anything you need I am not far away”. I swear never ever fall in love it hurts really.
Watch it guys and do not miss even a second of the movie.
