FORREST GUMP
A film review by Jon Ridge
Copyright 1994 Jon Ridge
CAST: Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis SCREENPLAY: Eric Roth CINEMATOGRAPHY: Don Burgess / VISUAL EFFECTS: Ken Ralston RUNNING TIME: 2:19 RELEASE -- July 6, 1994
"We all do things sometimes that, well ... just don't make sense."
For all its broad scope, all its twenty years of American History, FORREST GUMP tells a simple story of two people who can never be together. Through the eyes of the title character, the film quantum leaps over a number of important events (wars, and such), but never loses sight of what's most important. Life unfolds comfortably here; what our hero does may not make sense ... but it sure is noble.
Tom Hanks (outdoing anything he's done to date) portrays Forrest, a simpleton whose IQ may not meet basic educational norm, but whose heart is as big as life itself. As a young boy, Forrest faced persecution from others not as understanding of his physical handicap as mama (Sally Field). Young boys and girls wouldn't let him sit next to them on the school bus; they threw rocks at him, insulted him. To make life a bit more morally miserable, mama had to tell people things about daddy that didn't seem quite right, and do things with men that made no sense to Forrest. But it was all for the benefit of her boy, whom she would stop at nothing to get "the same opportunity as everyone else" for. Her loving devotion gave Forrest enough inspiration to, one sunny afternoon, break away form the chains holding him back and discover in himself an inner strength, something that no one else had so much of--speed.
Not all little children were unkind. One girl accepted him for who he was, and showed friendship still. The daughter of an abusive father, Jenny Curran understood with total clarity of young, open mind the pain that Forrest was going through, perhaps in a different respect, and with him sought refuge from home life. As narrated by the older Gump: "She was my most special friend. My only friend." The two children never separated for more than a second than need be and, as we watch them grow older, we see that nothing between them changed.
As high school ends, and Forrest enters college on sole account of his running ability on the football field, he and Jenny are forced to split up. That's not an easy thing, especially when, during one of many frequent visits to her all-girl college, Forrest sees her in the midst of front-seat sex. He doesn't know much about anything, and understands even less why Jenny hasn't (apparently) kept him in her heart as he has kept her. It's one of many life, learning, experiences that Forrest encounters throughout the film--others being Presidential visits with the likes of Kennedy and Nixon, Vietnam, professional shrimping, world-class ping pong championships. But above all else, the one experience that proves most difficult to endure is life without Jenny.
It's a nifty premise. Forrest Gump--a man less smart than anyone else around, finding more success and good fortune in life than anyone else around. The film would seem to say that if one has a good heart, nothing can go wrong, nothing bad can happen. Nothing, except the one thing dearest to a heart. And that's understandable for a man like Forrest Gump; he may be an idiot, but he knows more about love from silently loving one girl all his life than most men find loving hundreds of women. That one girl for Forrest can't (or won't) give him what would mean more to him than a thousand wars, a thousand visits to the White House--romantic love. He would never harm her, never break her heart, and always keep her safe. It's extremely ironic, then, as in a scene in which Forrest has just rescued her from a group of perverts in a strip-tease, that she demands him leave her be: "I can't help it. I love you." She says, "You don't know what love is" and yet he knows more about it than she does. It's truly amazing how a person can know someone else all their life, and never *really* know them at all. Just as he doesn't understand what love is (as far as Jenny thinks), he doesn't understand to stop loving her, either. The feeling he has for Jenny is probably the only true, human emotion Forrest has ever known, and the best thing for her even as she cannot reasonably accept it.
That's what FORREST GUMP is all about--relationships. Aside from Jenny, Forrest meets a man as intellectually down as himself named Bubba, whose only goal in life is to eat and sell as much shrimp as humanly possible. In the army, Forrest meets and serves under Lieutenant Dan Taylor, the man whose life Forrest saves, but whose dignity Forrest "cheats" away. These are friendships we care about, with people we care about; people Forrest would do anything for, never disobey, and always be loyal to. But like Jenny, they don't always know how to handle it; a scene with Forrest and Lt. Dan in a hospital, after the Lieutenant's legs have been amputated, displays the madness and rage of man whose life has been morally diminished because of the bravery of another: "Every man has a destiny in life, and you cheated mine away from me." Taylor is a complicated character--a man whose entire life has been garnered to fight and cease to be in war, as did every one of his ancestors in every American war; as Forrest narrates of the first time he met Taylor: "I guess you could say he had a lot to live up to." Sitting on the floor, as we witness one of the film's remarkable special effects, the frustration of man dead inside is made audible: "What am I going to do now?"
Forrest strongly effects the lives of several major and minor historical figures, and those closest him. Returning home from war, Forrest becomes a rich man from ping pong advertisements and uses the money to keep the promise he made his friend in Vietnam; the friend who died there in his arms. Forrest takes his riches and purchases a shrimping boat, having little success at first, but major triumph in the end. From that springs even greater financial well-being, giving him the opportunity to do something good for Bubba's family, even though Bubba is gone, and for other places he visited along the way. His partner in the shrimping business, also keeping a promise to a friend, is Lt. Dan who, through Forrest's belief in The Almighty and the chance at a new life given him, finds spiritual meaning in the world and the strength to carry on. Just to see all this happen to her son is the greatest success of all for Forrest's mother who, on her death-bed, tells him with all honesty, "I did the best I could."
Tremendously entertaining, FORREST GUMP brings with it deep and heartfelt emotion. The film is one of the best examples I can bring to mind of artists who believe in telling a good story, and trust in the power of it. Forrest is a good, honest individual to whom good things seem to come naturally. But Director Robert Zemeckis--working with a script by Eric Roth--doesn't rely on the fact that Forrest is mentally 'slow', or even want you to care for him merely because he is "not a smart man." You get the feeling that even if the character were presented as normal (total contradiction to the novel on which this picture is based), his actions would still warrant our trust and dedication. Forrest does whatever people tell him to do; in the Army, a soldier tells him to turn off the television, and he does so without question; Lt. Dan orders him run to the store and fetch a fresh bottle of wine, and he instantly gets up to go. And the best instance of Forrest's obedience comes when Jenny is just about to leave him (again), and he gives her the Medal of Honor he received for saving so many lives in Vietnam; she refuses to take it from him but, as he explains, he only got it for doing what she told him to do--what he does best. The scene ends just like this: "Why are you so good to me?" "... You're my girl." Jenny--"I'll always be your girl." A nice, subtly moving moment between two people who care for each other more than words could ever say. That's what this movie incorporates better than any other this critic has seen thus far in 1994--quiet moments that endear into the heart and mind. Some- thing not likely to be forgotten any time soon after the film has made peace with itself, or ever. This is superb work from Director Zemeckis, most assuredly the very best accomplishment of his career.
Casting of the lead must have proven difficult task. What actor alive could play a man like Forrest Gump, bring out his inner strength, beauty and struggle without letting the audience think he isn't taking any of it serious? Tom Hanks is probably not the first name that came to mind. But he puts a completely new spin on his talent here, while at the same time putting forth the best performance of his career. With Hanks as our guide, we see Forrest's pain, his frustration and terror, his sadness and doubt, without actually seeing any of it at all. What's on the surface is the mostly blank-faced, open-eyed sincerity of, not a retarded man, but a man who would have it all if only God had permitted his intelligence to rise above. What's underneath all that is a strong spirit with more love to give, more contributions for his world to make, than he or anyone else knows what to do with. An actor who can put that on the screen, non-judgmentally and without satire, after it's all said and done making the viewer agree without a doubt that Forrest deserved his, good fortune, is going way above and beyond his duties as actor. Hanks turns out to be the key. His performance is breathtakingly simplistic, but not simple; his mannerisms, intonation, annunciation are all perfect. Hanks' work is not just good ... it's ethereal.
As the love of his life, Robin Wright makes for a constant delight in Jenny. A woman who should probably open her heart to Forrest more than she does but cannot because the heart she has is distraught, Jenny wants to be a part of life, experience it for whatever good or bad it will bring. She and Forrest share a complicated relationship; he begins life with total back-hold and ultimately find freedom of being, while Jenny starts out with freedom but winds up immersed in self-intoxication, prisoner to the demons inside. What life has to offer her is initial good followed by lack of control (drug abuse, abuse from men): In a disturbing scene, Jenny walks out onto an apartment ledge, high on drugs, contemplating suicide, the lyric "I can't change" leading her along. Over the course of two turbulent decades, this emotionally scarred young woman proves willing to delve so deeply into "expanding her mind" because of pain suffered her during a mother-less childhood--as the film would seem to say during a quietly moving scene in which Jenny throws rocks at the deteriorated house she once called home. When she falls to the ground in tears, you realize just how lost this person is. And yet, for all that complexion Jenny remains somewhat of an enigma. She cares for this man Forrest, but does she *love* him? Time apart passed by like a nightmare, and once it is ended, the 80s are set into motion and she comes to him one last time, her intentions are unclear. Despite this lack of full substance, Wright delivers a performance of delicacy and the utmost care; you want Jenny and Forrest to come together, somehow, and that it can never be is heartbreaking. Why the underrated, talented, beautiful Wright isn't working more is a mystery.
Rounding out the flawless cast is Mykelti Williamson as Bubba, Sally Field as Forrest's mother and (most notably) Gary Sinise. Sinise brings power and fury to the film just when it's needed, giving an already tremendous motion picture its edge in the best performance of his career. Michael Humphreys effortlessly establishes the innocence of the film, and little Hanna R. Hall is just the sweet "angel" she needs to be.
What surprised me most of all about FORREST GUMP is that, as easy as it would have been to do, it does not exploit a war. During the brief appearance of it on screen, Vietnam is presented with more authenticity than most films that've dealt with it directly. The soundtrack, an eclectic blend of songs from days gone by, is not here to create anything the film doesn't already have. The music effectively enhances the mood. And Alan Silvestri's score softly provides a feeling of nostalgia, so that just as Forrest is narrating the events of his life there is an extra level of poignance.
1994 is seven months deep, and not too late to begin serving up its crop of best pictures. FORREST GUMP is one of them. It has a sense of being and, more importantly, time and place; an uplifting epic of the human spirit about being all that you can be. Its people, I was happy to meet ... and awfully sad to say goodbye to.
Rated PG-13 CRITICAL RATING: ****
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