Possibly the most important movie you will ever see if you've ever felt that life can be cruel

Rating: 8/10 (14 January 2007)

In preparation for writing this comment, which I am compelled to write for reasons which will become clear, I read a fair few of the major critics to see, if on this occasion, they had seen and felt what I had.
James Bernadelli suggests this film should be known as the "Pursuit of Richness"; another column I have read suggests that the money-will-solve-your-problems resolution is depressing and not the message Hollywood (or art in general) should be trying to put across.
I ask myself when the last occasion might have been that any of these critics genuinely had to :spoiler: run, under painful, embarrassing duress, from a cab - because they didn't have the money; or when the forces of life seemed to conspire against them so unfairly that they broke down in tears. Spoiler: when your wealthy boss, who you CANNOT disappoint, asks you to borrow the last five dollars in your wallet, and you know that that money is all you have in the world - to feed your family, to pay your gas.
You go through times in life when you feel that things couldn't possibly get worse - and then they do - and then they do again. Sometimes, (like Chris and son at the beach towards the end of the film) you just want to get away from it all, other times you cry. Sometimes, and this is rare, you laugh - because if you don't you'll cry. You know that if you let it all become too much, you will sink to the bottom of the sea.
Chris Gardner (not the real one perhaps, but the one in this movie) is my personal hero; my shining example; my inspiration - the guy that never allows himself to sink - even when he can feel his shoelaces trailing on the seabed.
I realised as I was watching this film that I was watching another me, so I never once stopped rooting for Chris. When he :spoiler: fixes the scanner in the shelter, I felt like I had fixed it.
I'm still working on getting the job that earns me enough to have a less painful life - when Chris finally achieves it, I want it for him so badly that I feel it in the very fibre of my being.
I suppose that it doesn't matter that much that Chris wants to succeed as much for his son as for himself. In a way, the fact that Chris has a son makes this movie emotionally frightening and if (and only if) our basest fears are being toyed with by the director, it is only in exactly the same way that we sometimes look up in to the sky and say - like Jim Carrey in "Bruce Almighty" - is there anything else you could possibly do to me today? In my life, God doesn't appear and explain why he keeps toying with me. The truest belief is in oneself and one must never lose it.
I adore this movie and I couldn't be more grateful for its existence. It comes at a time when I need it most. Its message: Keep going - never, ever give up.
And so I come back to those reviewers. Money certainly doesn't mean happiness in this existence, but no money, in this cruel capitalist world, can cost you your life. Do not be judgmental of those who want more, it might just be enough to pay for their son to eat, to keep a roof over his head, to keep their dignity. This film is not about rags-to-riches as some reviewers have said. It's not about the American dream either. It is about dignity and integrity and how money (or lack thereof) could easily strip you of both.
Chris Gardner never loses either and for this, he is an inspiration to us all.
See this film TODAY.