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Forrest Gump[pic]
Robert Zemeckis (of Back to the Future fame) has collected another feather
for his cap with his direction of this movie starring Tom Hanks as this
childishly naive idiot savant. Though that description of Forrest Gump
might be inadequate. Gump, gifted with a low IQ which lets him be adorably
childlike even as he grows up, leads a very charmed life: a mother who
loves him immensely and who sleeps with the school principal in order to
make sure her child has the best education, a miraculous incident that
eliminates the need for him to have braces for his legs, a childhood
girlfriend who remains faithful to him till the end, surviving Vietnam with
a medal, and, in general, a propensity for turning everything that happens
to him into good. I wonder what the movie is trying to say. From one
perspective, it implies that intelligence (as measured by IQs and the
general idea of what "smart" is) is a very unnecessary trait. But I think
one can look beyond that and say that childlike innocence, which can be
considered stupid, has its rewards. Throughout the movie, Gump is in
situations where he is harassed by other people but he never takes offense
(except, of course, when his girl Jenny is being abused) at any of the
insults thrown at him. He is indeed not completely stupid, even though he
is portrayed as such, since he can re-assemble guns at high speed, run like
crazy, play ping-pong like a maniac, and so on. The fact that Gump doesn't
take offense, I think, is what keeps him content. He becomes a millionaire,
but gives most of the money away. He is honest and open and this, along
with his Alabama accent, endears him to the audience. But this gets
tiresome after a while (especially after 2 hours). I thought the movie was
overly long, but that's the only negative thing I have to say. Gump rubs
elbows with many famous personalities over the last half of the century
including Elvis Presley and Nixon, thanks to computer technology (General
Dan doesn't really lose his legs either they are just erased and the
background is then touched up by using computer graphics programs). The
account of how Gump is responsible for the gyrations that is so
characteristic of Presley is very telling of the motives of this movie.
Gump is contrasted to the famous males, who are idols (in some cases) in
today's society, and it appears as though he is better off in comparison:
Gump's choices in life seem to determine his niceness (he goes to Vietnam,
keeps his promises ("a promise is a promise"), harbours no ill-feelings or
grudges, and is not greedy with fame or money) and successes. Contrast this
to the choices his lifetime girl friend Jenny makes: she wants to be famous
and rich, but ends up being a druggie. The people she is surrounded by are
all of a dubious nature: a sexually-abusive father, a show audience more
interested in her naked body than her folk-music p |