Forrest Gump (1994)
Film review and analysis
Varga Noémi – HKDE13

The blockbuster movie Forrest Gump was made in the year 1994, and it was an American romantic-comedy-drama film that won multiple awards and nominations, including awards won from the 67th Academy Awards, 1995 Golden Globe Awards, 1995 MTV Movie Awards, 1995 People’s Choice Awards and various other ones. In 1996, a themed restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, opened based on the film and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide. The scene of Gump running across the country is often referred to when real-life people attempt the feat. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected Forrest Gump for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was an adaption of a novel of Forrest Gump, by Winston Groom. The film differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel, including Gump's personality and several events that were depicted. Robert Zemeckis was the director of the movie, and he made great decisions about the camera techniques to be used in each scene. The movie stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. Principal photography took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released in that year. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a slow-witted and gullible, but good-hearted and athletically prodigious man from Alabama who witnesses, and in some cases influences, some of the defining events of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States; more specifically, the period between 1944 and 1982. The opening scene of the movie is filmed very beautifully, especially with the feather floating in the air, because it creates the mood of the whole piece. Also, the music and sounds chosen to accompany the opening scene, contributes to the tone of the entire movie. From right the beginning of the film, the feather is already floating around in the air. This white feather is a symbolic object that counts as a sign. The whiteness of it seems to show the purity and innocence Forrest has, and his enthusiastic personality, where he is determined to do whatever it takes to fulfill his own, and his friends and families dreams. A very interesting effect the feather is shot from in the opening scene is that it is an extreme long shot of different parts of the town, allowing the audience to adapt the setting of the film into their minds, whilst the feather is shot from multiple angles, sometimes close up, and sometimes using medium shots. A sense of mystery is created between Forrest and the audience, by a blurry image of him tracking the feather with his eyes, because the audience members want to find out what is so interesting that he keeps on staring at. Then, a bus comes along and blocks the view of Forrest, and the connection between the audience and Forrest is broken. The camera remains still until the woman who comes off the bus sits on the bench next to Forrest. A zoom is used here, which is quite effective, because essentially, the audience really wants to know what will happen between Forrest and this woman. Forrest starts talking to the woman breaking the silence. This is the first scene where we can here the famous catchphrase ‘Life is like a box of chocolates’. This catchphrase symbolizes his journey through life as he explains it as ‘You never know what you gonna get’, just like his opportunities in his life. After a bit of chatting between the two, the camera quickly zooms into a close up of Forrest’s face. This is a very important and beneficial shot, because it gradually slips into the next scene here. Where Forrest starts squinting his eyes. This is the point of the movie where our protagonist starts telling his life story. Forrest was born in Alabama, he lived with his mother, a boardinghouse owner (Sally Field), who tries to correct his posture by making him wear leg-braces, but who never criticizes his mind. When Forrest is called "stupid," his mother tells him, "Stupid is as stupid does," and Forrest turns out to be incapable of doing anything less than profound. Also, when the leg-braces finally fall from his legs, it turns out he can run like the wind. That's how he gets a college football scholarship, in a life story that eventually becomes a running gag about his good luck. Gump the football hero becomes Gump the Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, and then Gump the Ping-Pong champion, Gump the shrimp boat captain, Gump the millionaire stockholder (he gets shares in a new "fruit company" named Apple Computer), and Gump the man who runs across America and then retraces his steps. It could be argued that with his IQ of 75 Forrest does not quite understand everything that happens to him. He understands everything he needs to know, and the rest, the movie suggests, is just surplus. He even understands everything that's important about love, although Jenny, the girl he falls in love with in grade school and never falls out of love with, tells him, "Forrest, you don't know what love is." She is a stripper by that time. As Forrest's life becomes a guided tour of straight-arrow America, Jenny (played by Robin Wright) goes on a parallel tour of the counterculture. She goes to California, of course, and drops out, tunes in, and turns on. She's into psychedelics and flower power, antiwar rallies and love-ins, drugs and needles. Eventually it becomes clear that between them Forrest and Jenny have covered all of the landmarks of US recent cultural history. The movie concludes with their story line when Forrest realizes that he is only 6 blocks away from Jenny’s apartment and doesn’t need to take a bus. The next scene we see the reunion of these two, Forrest realizes how Jenny was tracing him through his running journey. The story quickly picks up from the moment Forrest finds out that he has a son with Jenny and offers her to come with him back to the boardinghouse in Alabama. We jump forward in time to their wedding and after that to the realization of Jenny’s sickness. We see Forrest mourn her beloved Jenny under their tree, where they used to play as kids. Though he misses her terribly, he becomes a devoted father to Forrest Jr. Speaking to Jenny's tombstone, Forrest tearfully says he does not know if life has a meaning or purpose like Lieutenant Dan said, or if life is entirely random, like his mother said—but he has a feeling that, somehow, "maybe it's both".
“You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.” – Forrest Gump
The ending scene consists of Forrest and his son waiting for the school bus to arrive on little Forrest’s first day of school, just like Forrest and his mother in the beginning. When we see the bus leave with little Forrest on board the camera zooms in on Forrest’s face and slowly moves the shot all along his body to his shoes, where we can see the white feather being blown away by the wind. This shot reconnects the audience with Forrest as he is tracking the feather once again with his eyes, just like us, the audience, do. This is how we step-away from the magical life story of Forrest Gump.

Sources * Forrest Gump (1994) * IMDB: Forrest Gump * http://www.rogerebert.com