What do you want to do...

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2009)

Before I go on with my ranting, I want to first mention that I write this message with the intention of making known my belief of what this movie is about and what sort of connection it's attempting to make. One who's never seen this movie should feel that this message tells you what the central theme of this movie is, whereas for the ones who've seen it, this should offer nothing more than another point of view.
I feel the central idea of this movie is to put forward a person (Will) with an infinite ("bound by nothing") potential and at the same time an inner demon that held him back from the world. And what Sean (Robin Williams) offered him is courage and he taught Will that part of living life is to have this courage to face his inner demons and choose his own path without fear.
***What do you want to do?***
One of the major theme in this movie is this very question. By putting will forward and showing that with all of his genius, he's lost when facing with this simple question. What do we want to do? The point of this question is not to get an answer as simple as "I want to be a lawyer or a doctor". I feel the point of this question is the question itself. It asks you to give an answer that ,despite all the genius and all the power of reason and logic, you can not find a definitive answer to. It asks you to understand yourself, to search for something that you can never truly know you've found. It involves devotion,love,risk, loss and disappointment, something Will will never dare to face. When Sean asked Will this question, he wasn't expecting will to answer it with a definitive answer, but Will is thinking of it as a question and he can come up with all the reasonable answers in the world, they would still be wrong, because for will, he's too scared to face his own inner demon and too confused to know what to do with himself. What Sean offered will is the reflection of his own life. He tells will despite all the pain and loss, it's OK, because that doesn't diminish even slightly the greatness of love and life. He showed will that true loss is only when you love something more than you love yourself, and at the same time that's where true happiness emerges. It is through all the conversations and sharing Will slowly realizes that he's not alone, he has the chance to be happy if he has the courage to face down his own demon and to find his own joy (as he chased after his girlfriend at the end of the movie). What We all need is to do is to find a path and have the the courage to follow through. Most of the times we don't know if what we've chosen is the correct path, but as long as we tried, Joy and love will always be there to carpet the road of pain and loss. That is what life is all about.
***what is failure, what is success*** In this movie, there is an interesting contrast between the field metal winner and the supposedly lowly psychologist who lives and works in a small apartment. This movie offered a chance for one to think about what is true success? Is it how much money you make? The working environment? Pension? bonus? or is it as the producer of this movie believed, that there's no true success or failure, it's about what we want and to live is to feel. For those who do not know, Field Metal is a huge deal, it's probably more amazing than the Noble price for math people. This is a really interesting question, I just want to throw it out there. to write what I think would make me run out of space.
***one interesting scene*** there is a picture of a man rolling a boat inside a storm, that is my favorite scene in the entire history of movies. The use of one painting and a few words from Will entirely described the sadness of the sullen psychologist and it also offers a very unique and interesting portrait of what it means to feel completely lost and helpless. If you've felt like that before in any point in your life, You would appreciate this scene, at least that's my point of view.
Overall, This is a story of trust, courage and love. It showed the most fundamental question that someone in my age (early 20s or even late teens) should always bear in mind. and You should never miss a movie as intelligently crafted as the Good Will Hunting.