and that's all I have to say about that

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2002)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** *****SPOILERS FOLLOWING*****
Forrest Gump is an epic journey of a movie.Narrated throughout by Tom Hanks,who,in what has to be his best acting role ever,plays the gullible yet wholly lovable Forrest Gump. The movie begins with a thirty-something Forrest sitting on a park bench waiting for the number 7 bus.A feather falls at his feet and he picks it up and puts it in an old book he is carrying.This simple visual moment is the basis for the movie,it is a physical metaphor for lifes journey,and for the next 142 minutes we are voyeurs into the trials and tribulations of this simple-minded man from Greenbow Alabama. Our insight into Forrests life begins with him needing a contraption to help him walk when he is all of six or seven.A portly Doctor explains to the boys mother,played by Sally Field,that:Well...his legs are fine Mrs Gump,but his back is as crooked as a politician.And so poor Forrest has to wear steel leg braces that look simply 'chaotic'.The screenplay utilises this device to create a simply brilliant scene where Forrest seems to teach a young Elvis Presley his now infamously risque dance moves while staying in their mansion-like homestay.Forrest narrates this from the park bench to total strangers who are also waiting for a bus.He talks in a manner that suggests he thinks it's no big thing.His indifference causes disbelief in some of the strangers as he continues on with the story of his remarkable life. On the bus to school one day(when he is still very young) he meets a young girl named Jenny,who,in time becomes his one true love and an integral character in the story.'Me and Jenny was like peas and carrots' explains Forrest.'We did everything together'. Forrest gets older and becomes a football star after discovering his talent for running,and discovers that,in their late teenage years,he and Jenny aren't that close anymore.Having had an abusive childhood Jenny has trouble with commitment and stability,but knows what she wants from life.In a poignant and somewhat humourous scene in her secular school dorm she explains:I want to be a singer Forrest,like Joan Biaz.on a stage,just me and my guitar'. Forrests eventful life continues on and we see him involved in a scene where there is racial tension at his school and where,because of his achievements at football,he gets to meet President John F Kennedy.Both of these scenes are unique as Tom Hanks was actually added into the actual footage of these events as they really happened by computer technology.Both are extremely amusing scenes. The Vietnam War erupts and Forrest is conscripted.Just before he goes he finds Jenny singing in a seedy nightclub and rescues her from a group of obnoxious men,for which she is not impressed.She tells him she wants him to leave her alone.'I'm going to Vietnam...Jenny.I'll write you everyday'.And being a man of his word he does,amidst the graphic and relentless turmoil of the war.Gary Sinise puts in a star performance as Lt.Dan,a wily but genuinely nice character. Forrest befriends a negro by the name of Beauford Blue,who is affectionately called Bubba.His obsession is shrimp,and all he does is talk about it.His dream when leaving the army was to start a shrimping business.He asks Forrest if he'd like to be his partner and he obliges.Then one day the platoon is wiped out.Lt.Dan loses his legs and Bubba dies in Forrests arms.Recovering in hospital after being 'shot in the butTOCKS' Forrest learns that none of his letters to Jenny ever reached her-she had been travelling from city to city doing drugs and generally mixing with the wrong people. Forrest then becomes a professional table-tennis player while Lt.Dan,now in a wheelchair wallows in self pity.The two reunite one day in New York when Lt.Dan finds out Forrest was awarded the Congressional medal of honour for bravery after saving his companys lives in Nam.Forrests charmed and simple view on life eventually leads Lt.Dan to change his own outlook and together they begin trawling the ocean for shrimp in a boat called 'Jenny'.They succeed in their venture. Forrests life is not all wine and caviar though(or should that be shrimp?)as his mother passes away from cancer.Jenny returns but she is an emotional mess.Out walking one day they end up at her old home.Crying she throws stones at the now derelict house before collapsing onto the ground.Forrest narrates:'I guess sometimes there just ain't enough rocks'.Their relationship stays rocky,then one morning after making love,Jenny runs away.Forrest is devastated and takes up running-clear across the country! The film drifts back to the present day where Forrest is still waiting for his bus.After a disbeliever walks away laughing an elderly lady tells him she thinks it was a lovely story.Forrest explains he's on his way to see Jenny,the lady then tells him he doesn't need to catch the bus;the place he is looking for is only four blocks away. Forrest is reunited with Jenny who now seems to have her life in order.But there is a surprise ahead,she has a child.Forrests child.Initially shocked Forrest soon accepts this new responsibility as Jenny reveals she is dying,(we are left to assume from A.I.D.S)Inevitabley she dies and Forrest assumes the role of Father to young Forrest(Hayley Joel Osmont.) The movie ends at it began,the feather escaping from the book and gently flirting with the breeze up into an azure Alabama sky.Truly a magnificent movie.10/10.