A mathematical genius who works as a janitor gets help from a psychologist to get his criminal life in check by being forced to see the truth.

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2015)

If you ever wanted to watch a movie that made you think and laugh, Good Will Hunting is a good choice. Will Hunting is played by Matt Damon and is presented as one of those guys who gets into trouble and has a smart mouth. He lives in an anything but luxurious, trashy house and works as a janitor at M.I.T. He hangs out with a guy named Chuckie, played by Ben Affleck, who seems just as rough around the edges as Will, only in track suit form. What kind of movie could this be? It is't until we find out that Will is actually a mathematical genius that we can see a good story starting to form. Professor Lambeau, played by Stellan Skarsgard, discovers what great work Will can accomplish and attempts to help Will by picking his brain and setting him up with therapy to help with his criminal and vulgar ways. Eventually, psychologist Sean Acquire, played by Robin Williams, gets called upon to push Will to his limits and to help him see the truth. The truth that Will's past was not his fault and that he needs to start letting people in his life as well as knowing what he wants in his life as well.
Will was a very loyal man. All his life he knew about being abandoned. Will was an orphan and foster homes were anything but a day at the carnival. Though he did push certain people away, he kept the people that mattered the most close by. Will was so loyal, that he would give up a better life for himself to just stay with his friend, Chuckie, until the end of their days. This fact infuriated Chuckie. He knew that Will deserved better and told him this at a construction site they were working at. To quote the movie, Chuckie tells Will, "But you know what the best part of my day is? For about ten seconds, from when I pull up to the curb and when I get to your door, 'cause I think, maybe I'll get up there and I'll knock on the door and you won't be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing. You just left." (Quotes, 2015) Chuckie wants what is best for Will so much, that he would be okay with Will just leaving without a peep.
A great scene where Will finally embraces and deals with his internal struggles is when Sean keeps saying, over and over, "it was not your fault." For some reason, this finally gets to Will. It's as if the whole time, he thought he was abandoned or beaten because he did something wrong. Sean allowed him to finally release all of those emotions. It almost seems like after that moment, Will got to start over. He finally went after what he wanted in the end and did what was going to finally make him happy.
This movie reminded me of A Beautiful Mind. Of course, this movie also was about a man who was a mathematical genius, but he also had some struggles and truths to deal with. It wasn't until he realized that he needed to handle his mental illness and that he did, in fact, have one, that he found happiness. It took some struggle and seeing the truth eye to eye to get to where he needed to be.
One kind of motif I would point out in the movie is when Sean tells Will, "Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself"(Quotes, 2015). Sean also kept asking will what he wanted in life, but Will never really answered him. Will was so used to losing things, how could he not know what real loss was? When will leaves Sean a note saying that he wasn't going to the new job that he got and was chasing after Skylar, Sean knew that Will finally understood that statement and was going after what he wanted.
Sometimes one has to go through a lot of struggle before they can finally figure out what they want in life. It's never fun to figure it out alone though. Will had two people in his life that supported him and wanted the best for him. It took some tough love, but he finally realized they were right and he went for what he wanted in life.