The South's greatest hero since Huck Finn

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2002)

Some moral high grounders were up in arms over this film because of the depictions of sex, violence, drugs etc in it. Yes, the sleazy side of life features heavily in Forrest Gump but the film laughs at it. The film does not make out that there's anything admirable about sexual perversion, violence, heavy drinking or drug taking. Forrest always knows the right things to say and do and although he might not be too bright he is a better person than many of the people he encounters. He shuns the sleazy side of life (although in some ways he doesn't fully understand it) and this is symbolised in the scene when he pushes the hooker away when she tries to make love to him. Jenny poses for Playboy, plays the guitar naked in a perverts' club, takes drugs but Forrest is there for her as her gallant protector and moral guardian. Forrest is also only violent under extreme provocation such as in the scene with Wesley. Wesley sees Forrest in his army uniform and calls him a baby-killer but like many holier-than-thou pacifists Wesley is at heart a violent person who hits Jenny. Forrest duly lays into him and if this scene is violent it's no worse than the handsome hero in an old silent film giving the villain a good thrashing for what he's done to the heroine. Forrest is pleasant to everyone, be they people on the street or US Presidents. He speaks sadly about President Kennedy and John Lennon being shot. Also, he is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour not for killing or destroying the enemy in Vietnam but for saving the lives of other soldiers at great personal risk to himself. He is a decent guy who is successful in life and the film is not patronising to handicapped people as some people have said. The portrayal of the single parent family has also been criticised but frankly the message here is "always be nice to your Momma". It is a feel good movie and although life from the 60s to the 80s may not always have been great this film show it in a positive light. Some scenes remind you of Midnight Cowboy and I think this is intentional. However Midnight Cowboy was a downbeat movie made at the end of the cynical 60s. This is a pleasant upbeat film. It is incidentally very different from Winston Groom's book and I think it is better than the book. The only thing I would have changed about the film is that I wouldn't have had Jenny die at the end. To conclude, funny, heartwarming, original and brilliant.