An amazing life. An amazing movie.

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2011)

Few, if any, characters in movie history have had an amazing a life as Forrest Gump. He's such a simple man. Stupid? Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest may be a little slow. But he gets life, he knows what's important. He remains true to himself, to his values. He is fiercely loyal to those he loves. And as Forrest himself says, though he is not a smart man he knows what love is. Just by doing what he knows in his heart to be right this simple man has the most incredible life. His journey is magical, inspiring, heartwarming. It's dramatic, it's funny, it's poignant, it's mesmerizing. Forrest Gump touches the lives of so many people around him. And along the way he changes the course of world events too. This is a life which has to be seen to be believed.
So how does an Alabama boy with an IQ of 75 end up changing the world? Just by being himself. Life happens all around him and Forrest is often blissfully ignorant. He finds himself caught up in one extraordinary situation after another. In each situation, without fail, he just does the right thing, the good thing. He does what "smarter" people, given the opportunity to think about the situation, might not. He thinks not of the consequences, he just follows his heart. And that heart takes him to the most amazing places. He is a man driven by love. Love for his friends, for his mama, and above all for his beloved Jenny.
The story of Forrest and Jenny is inspiring and tragic, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. From their first meeting as children the bond between these two is unbreakable. No matter how they may drift apart that connection is always there. And drift apart they do for while Forrest has his amazing life's journey Jenny has a journey all her own. She embraces life in her own way. In confronting her demons she makes some bad choices. No matter how far gone she may seem to be she knows, and we know, that Forrest will always be there for her. Forrest doesn't judge her as so many others would. He just loves her, always and forever, no matter how hard she makes it to love her at times. It really is one of the great relationships in movie history.
The relationship between Forrest and Jenny is the real heart of the story but there's so much more. With everything Forrest experienced it's remarkable that director Robert Zemeckis managed to cram it all into less than two and a half hours of film. And give credit to Zemeckis too for creating the right tone for the film. In the wrong hands this could have been an overly sentimental mess of a film. But in Forrest Gump Zemeckis presents a film, and a character, which is good but not too good to be true. So many outrageous things happen to Forrest Gump but you believe in this story every step of the way. Zemeckis put all the pieces together perfectly. Everything fits, right down to the wonderful soundtrack with the perfect songs for each of the big moments in Forrest's decades-long journey. A great share of the credit for the film's success of course goes to Tom Hanks who played Forrest to perfection. An obviously challenging character to play. How far do you go in portraying Forrest's innate simplicity? Hanks got it just right. The rest of the cast is terrific as well. Robin Wright hits all the right emotional notes in playing the deeply troubled Jenny. Sally Field is everything you would want your mama to be. Mykelti Williamson brings great personality to the role of Forrest's wartime buddy Bubba. Michael Conner Humphreys and Hanna Hall are wonderfully endearing as the young Forrest and Jenny. And Gary Sinise is utterly brilliant in playing Lieutenant Dan, a character whose story arc is as dramatic and compelling as can be. Hanks of course won an Oscar for his performance, which was pretty much a given as soon as the film was released. That Sinise didn't pick up an Oscar as well for his supporting role seems borderline criminal. What a performance he gave in a supremely challenging role.
Much was made upon the film's initial release about the effects used to insert Forrest Gump into history. The effects may seem quaint by now but they were truly revolutionary at the time. And they add a nice touch to the movie. It's cute seeing Forrest tell JFK he has to go pee or to see him chatting with John Lennon. All of Forrest's brushes with history give the movie a grander scale. They show the impact this very simple man had on the world. But for all the famous people he met, for all the wondrous things he did, Forrest would be the first to tell you that everything he ever needed was right there at home in Greenbow, Alabama. His friends, his mama, his Jenny. That's all Forrest Gump ever needed. And look at the impact he had on those closest to him, often without even trying. Look at where Lieutenant Dan is in life by the end of the film. Forrest got him there just by being himself, by doing what was right. And Forrest was of course always there for Jenny too. Such a simple man yet he touched so many lives. Not a smart man? Listen to what Forrest has to say about destiny in the incredibly poignant scene near the film's end. Maybe Forrest Gump had us all fooled. He may have been the smartest one of all.