Simply, a beautiful movie

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2007)

This has to be one of the most beautiful movies ever made. I remember the first time I saw it, I was in some department store, and I saw a scene playing on the store t.v. It was the scene where Forrest is on Merv Griffin (?) I believe, talking with John Lennon, and actually my first impression was that it was forced, and contrived. Corny. So, I never really watched the whole film, until a year or two ago. This movie brings so many tears to my eyes, not because of sadness, but because of the simplicity of life, relationships, and different stories. The little feather in the beginning of the film seems to be on a journey visiting different lives, and by the end of the story, when the little feather moves on on it's path, you are so touched and moved by the beautiful story of Forrest Gump.
My favorite character is probably Lt. Dan. Forrest meets Lt. Dan in Vietnam, and when Dan loses the bottom half of his legs, he has a "problem", putting it lightly, with God, and his destiny. But, through the years, and by knowing Forrest, he comes to terms with his situation, and one of my favorite scenes is where Dan is swimming in the ocean. It shows how much he CAN do, as he can swim just fine, and enjoy that wonderful, cool, free experience available to most of us. By the end of the film he has come such a long way; he is happy, engaged to a nice girl, and walking on titanium legs, with the help of a cane. And boy is he easy on the eyes, at that!
I liked the character of Jenny, but I hated how she kept leaving Forrest, and not telling him why. She deserted him quite a bit. Yet he could not hold it against her. She was a survivor of child sexual abuse and incest, so that helps to explain her lifelong struggle with depression. In the end, she does give Forrest a wonderful gift in the form of his son, Little Forrest. However, I thought it a little strange how they handled the A.I.D.S. idea. I mean, if she had A.I.D.S., wouldn't they allude to some form of protection, for Forrest, after they got married? Even though she died in 1982 (according to the headstone)the medical profession did know at that time, that it was a sexually transmitted disease. And, I am assuming that she meant AIDS, when she said that she had a virus that the docs didn't know what it was, and that there was nothing that they could do about it. I never read the book, so I don't know if it was explained a little more there.
One other little question I had was the scene where Forrest opens a letter from Lt. Dan, telling him that he would never need to worry about money ever again, because of their investments in Apple. The letter head says 1975. Hmmmm. I guess I'll have to do my research and see when Apple became a multi-million dollar company, and went public. I know that when I was in high school in 1982, we were still learning Pascal, or whatever those old fashioned computer languages were at that point, before user friendly p.c.s hit the market. I didn't know that Apple was that big, already. It may prove that I am just ignorant, and can use a lesson in business history. Other than that, and the two scenes of John Lennon, and President Kennedy, which I thought were hokey, the movie was a huge success in my book. It's a truly beautiful film, and I also like the woman at the bus stop who ends up staying, missing her bus on purpose, so that she can listen to Gump. She is a neat character, who is moved by his story. If you like beautiful, moving films, see this one.