I would nominate Good Will Hunting as one of the ten best films of 1997!
I do this in full recognition that the plot is overly simplistic and predictable, a flaw certainly to be seized upon by other critics. One is
quite aware where this movie is heading from the moment we realize that Will Hunting (Matt Demon) is a gifted young man from South Boston, with a long police record and a penchant for getting into fights with his drinking buddies. When he confronts an arrogant Harvard grad student in a Cambridge bar, not with his fists, but with superior knowledge of U.S.
history, Will is up and running as our hero. During the same encounter he meets a bright, beautiful, Harvard undergrad with a large trust fund,
named Skylar (Minnie Driver) and goes home with her telephone number in his pocket. With such an obvious combination of talent and good looks, aided and abetted with a tremendous sense of humor, its clear there's nothing on earth that can stop him from triumphing over the wounds of a seriously troubled childhood. Nor is there anything that will likely stand in the way of Matt Damon as the movie industry's newest superstar!
His acting is superb! Despite the simplicity of the story-line, this film is filled with wonderful actors, first of all Matt and Minne. They are followed closely thereafter by Robin Williams as the down and out psychology professor who becomes Will's counselor and friend. And Ben Afflect, who with Matt, actually wrote the script and plays Will's best friend, Chuckie, in the movie.
Then too, there's the directing of Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy; My Own Private Idaho) and the cinematography of Jean Yves Escoffur. The visual impact of this movie is very, very strong. In a few carefully chosen shots and scenes we are given a realistic feel for the South Boston neighborhoods where Will and his friends reside, for Cambridge and the MIT campus, where much of the plot unfolds, and the interconnecting subways, roadways, riverscapes and skyscapes that make up greater Boston, which is the backdrop for this very American movie. Of course it's very much part of America's civil religion to believe that any young man (or woman) from South Boston (or the South Bronx, or South L.A., or the South itself -- thank you Bill Clinton) can grow up to be President of the United States. Since the glow and luster no longer seem to reside with the Presidency, this film's hero promises to become the Nobel prize winning mathematician who is smart enough and honest enough to puncture the hypocrisy of corporate bigshots or government bureaucrats, even as he gains the personal maturity required to build real relationships with real people, and heal his own wounded psyche. As this revision of the American Dream unfolds, there's lots and
lots of good music to listen to in a well rendered sound track, and above all, a winning sense of humor balanced by an emotional punch that kept me either laughing or crying during much of the film's hour and twenty two minutes. What makes it all work, despite the flaw already mentioned, is the coordination of the camera work, acting, and directing
that make the whole considerably greater than the sum of all its parts.
Leaving the theatre I was struck by the impression that we are living in
one of the greatest visual cultures ever. And while I realize that this has its downside (namely, the corrosive effects of a growing illiteracy), one might as well enjoy the visual treasures that movies like this one truly are. When you realize that this movie was written by
two kids from South Boston (Damon and Affleck), and that these two talented guys are in a position to receive Academy Award nominations while still in their twenties, this movie is in more ways than one an anthem in praise to America. One which is played with prophetic passion,
as well as a genuine love of country. Five flames.
Charles Henderson, Executive Director The Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
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