Great movie inspired on a real life story

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2007)

The Pursuit of Happiness is the true life story of Chris Gardner, who was a struggling salesman of medical scanners in the 1980s. His life hit the doldrums when his wife left him, and he has to take care of his young son. Soon he is evicted from his house and has to sleep with his son in a public bathroom (and later on homeless shelters). A small light at the end of the tunnel appears when he is accepted as an unpaid intern at a stock brokerage firm - he is one of 20 such interns, and only one will be chosen after six months to join the company in a lucrative job. Meanwhile, he has to make ends meet with his young son as he best can, facing debts, evictions, bills, etc. Some people criticize the movie as being too pro capitalist. There is some truth to that, as the rich guys who head the stock brokerage firm are shown to be all nice men, while the poor (with the exception of Chris) are bitter, resentful, unhappy with their lives. Yet, the movie also shows realistically what is to be a poor man in America as very few Hollywood movies do. All in all, a very good movie.