Run, Forrest, run!

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2006)

There was a Quebec poet-singer named Félix Leclerc who sang a song which began with these words: "Moi, mes souliers ont beaucoup voyagé". In English, it means: "Me, my shoes have traveled a lot." So, just watching the opening scenes from the movie, where the camera zooms on Forrest's shoes, made me understand that Forrest Gump was that kind of guy, too.
In fact, Forrest's journey began right after the end of World War II and it went on throughout all of the baby-boom generation events 'till 1982, where his childhood sweetheart, who became his wife, died of AIDS.
But what Forrest Gump never understood is that any single event of his life would have been a lifelong dream for somebody else. Everyone on Earth would die for a single sight of the President of the United States. Well, Forrest personally met three of them (Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon) and he never realized how lucky he was. And that's a single element of his existence.
Forrest Gump's character is played by Tom Hanks, a role which deserved him the Best Actor Oscar for a second-straight year (he won for "Philadelphia" in 1993). But it's very easy to understand. I think that Hanks' performance is one of the most brilliant interpretations of any kind in the history of cinema.
Also brilliant are Gary Sinise and Robin Wright Penn, who play respectively Lt. Dan Taylor (Forrest's superior in Vietnam) and Jenny (the girl of whom Forrest has a crush on). While Forrest is a very lucky guy, Taylor and Jenny are mostly down on their own luck. Taylor lost his legs during the Vietnam war and after the war, he depended on the government for living and became an alcoholic. Jenny had the bad luck of having a cruel and abusive father and she met a lot of men who weren't as tender as her childhood friend Forrest was. She even became addicted to drugs during the hippie movement and she contemplated suicide for a while.
But it's Hanks' performance that really makes this movie a unique one. Not only does Hanks put all of his skills into Forrest's interpretation, helped by young Michael Conner Humphreys,but the script is also a gem. It shows a character whose innocence is still a part of him, like if he still was a child. Forrest's IQ is very low, but his physical shape is great (especially in his legs) and he's led by his heart, which is as big as his own Alabama estate.
Visual effects are magnificent. It's one rare movie that features state-of-the-art special effects in such a drama. Most of the time, this kind of effects are featured in genres such as action, adventure, fantasy or science fiction. I loved to see Gary Sinise without his legs and the feather movement in the opening and the closing scenes. But the most astonishing of all is the interaction between Forrest and famous people, such as presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, and also Elvis Presley and John Lennon.
So, all in all, "Forrest Gump" is a unique movie. It's a great historical drama, featuring one of the most recognizable characters ever conceived and it's a very enjoyable showcase of one of the greatest historical periods ever. It means that I perfectly understand why did this movie win the Academy Award for Best Picture. However, this award should have belonged to "Pulp Fiction"...