Saw Forrest Gump finally yesterday. It was completely different from what I had always thought the movie would be like. One would expect a movie based on a mentally challenged person to depict how he is wronged all his life, how he cries his way through life, how the people sympathise with him and ridicule him....
But Forrest Gump is different!! Yes, it is.. Forrest Gump is about a winner, who always succeeds in life, no matter what he does..
Be it succeeding over his handicapped legs to becoming the fastest runner in Alabama.., be it succeeding his way through college, be it succeeding his way through Vietnam, be it succeeding in a doomed shrimp business, be it in marrying in childhood sweetheart, be it in life...
One can always say such things can happen in cinematic worlds, but is that justification fair enough for Forrest Gump’s story?
Forrest Gump did nothing in his life by himself, he only did what was told to him.. His girlfriend, Jenny, told him to run away from the school bullies, he did just that, he ended up overcoming his handicap... She told him to run away in Vietnam if any dangers affronted him... he did just that, only that he saved four wounded soldiers along with him... giving him the medal of honour...
Forrest Gump tells us the story of a man who just lived his life.. he did not think much else... because he just did not know anything else...
Maybe it is true.. maybe life really is not that complex... maybe it is only complex as you make it out to be...
The genius of the director can be seen in how he conveys the notion of violence in the story... He talks about the assasination of JFK, the murder of John Lennon, the attempt at Ronald Reagen’s life .. all this as a parallel track... Forrest Gump just says this ’’A few years later, I heard that somebody shot that nice man. I wonder why someone would do that.’’. Now that may sound immaterial but if you ponder, you really would have to wonder with him, why would someone do that...
The best part of the movie is his 3 year marathon and his wonder at the reasons people were attributing to his run... ’’The people could not beleive that I was running just because I felt like it’’..
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That was intended to show how people percieve complexities in everything in life..
And, of course, I was pleased to hear the rendition of ’’Free Bird’’ by Lynyrd Sykynrd during the course of the movie...
Forrest Gump is a must-see for all the reasons in the world, in life..