Story of a nation

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2000)

Despite the title, it's not the story of Forrest Gump, blank slate; it's a story told by Forrest Gump, clear mirror. And the story he reflects is of America and its journey through the late 20th century, its failings and its growth. It isn't a totally glorious story. Nor is it the story of wealthy, clever people (and their shrinks) from the cities - that's for the Woody Allens of the world, and their admittedly important and valuable studies of interior worlds. This is an expansive survey of what makes America what it is. Zemeckis's answer is the nearest thing to Frank Capra's deeply democratic concept of America as a collection of ordinary, not-too-bright, people who are sometimes misled by their "leaders", sometimes beguiled into temptation, who make mistakes but collectively stumble and fumble to a generally benign destination guided by wisdom and good intentions that few of them possess consistently as individuals but which comprise the collective sum of their histories. Tom Hanks must be a genius to play the Everyman, Mr America. It seemed to be the role Dennis Weaver was destined for after Duel; it's the role Dennis Hopper achieved once in Easy Rider; it's the role Gary Cooper and James Stewart filled in Capra's films; but none of them had to carry quite so much of a film as Hanks does here.