The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) and his meeting with the love of his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the late 1950's through the 1970's including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc. The problem is, he's too stupid to realize the significance of his actions.I believe that this movie will be remembered as an American classic 30 years after the fact. It represents a really great story involving elements of destiny and the American dream. Forrest becomes representative of the baby boomer generation having walked through life blindly. It represents a lot of important historical periods in the post-WWII American South almost as if they were seen through the eyes of a child. Also, on destiny: Forrest, according to Lieutenant Dan's definition of destiny, was doomed to be a retard who went to a special school and worked at Wal-Mart, but instead, he became so much more than that: College graduate, football star, war hero, national celebrity, millionaire, and father. But if you follow Mama's definition, you make your own destiny and nothing is ever set. The film doesn't make a definitive argument for either side, as there are a lot of things that happen to Forrest that he has no control over, so I guess it lets the viewers decide...
Forrest Gump was nominated for thirteen Oscars and won six including Tom Hanks' second consecutive Best Actor award and Best Picture. This is really a remarkable accomplishment considering this film had to go head-to-head with Pulp Fiction...
No comments:
Post a Comment