Revisiting Forrest Gump for the AFI Project

From November 26, 2009:

What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here:http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx

Forrest Gump is on the following AFI lists:

The Original Top 100 (#71)
100 Movie Quotes (#40 - Forrest Gump: "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.")
100 Most Inspiring Movies (#37)
The Revised Top 100 (#76)

I believe that Forrest Gump happens to be one of the most polarizing films in the popular film lexicon. Take any sampling of people who have seen this film, and, almost guaranteed, half will say this is a modern masterpiece, while the other half will claim that it is melodramatic and manipulative tripe with a problematic protagonist. For the record, I am of the former category. This is one of my favorite films for so many reasons. On the most basic level, it holds up to repeat viewings so well, I actually notice aspects of it with each new viewing that I missed on previous attempts. It's endlessly quotable, even if you ignore that life is like a box of chocolates. It features Tom Hanks in a performance that is neither pandering and offensive nor ultimately that manipulative. And, unless I'm much mistaken, it's probably Robert Zemeckis' best film, a peak he would have reached fifteen years ago. I am unable to see why people have come to hate it so, and I suppose they have a right to their opinion, but for me, Forrest Gump as a film and as a piece of art is actually quite a masterpiece because it's collectively self-reflective. It invites Americans as a culture to revisit where we've been and consider where we're going, all in the space of 2.5 hours. Plus, it's simply an entertaining film, which I am proud to have in my collection (the test passed with flying colors on this one).

Forrest Gump (Hanks) is a special man. He has a below-average IQ, but he is never wanting for an interesting life. Based on a novel, the film follows Forrest from his childhood with his doting mother (Sally Field) to adulthood. Without trying, Forrest finds himself a witness to some of the most significant historic events of the twentieth century, even as he finds his way to college (and the University of Alabama after Brown v. Board of Ed was rendered by the Supreme Court) through a football scholarship, the Vietnam War via choosing the army for his career, a shrimping boat via a promise to his war buddy and "best good friend" Benjamin Buford Blue aka Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), an investor in Apple Electronics thanks to his former Vietnam lieutenant and shrimping boat first mate Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), around the world as a ping-pong champion, and cross-country just because he felt like running one day. He meets presidents at the White House (on multiple occasions), the King pre-fame, and John Lennon post-Beatles. And all Forrest ever cares about, despite all of these things he has seen, done, and been a part of, is his girl, his peas-and-carrots most special friend, Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), whom he loves with all his heart, and whose parallel life is quite the opposite of his idyllic, happenstance journey.

Perhaps it's difficult to see past the fact that Forrest is "below-average" in intelligence. Maybe viewers find him to be too much of a caricature and distraction from the more profound aspects of the film. To this viewer, Forrest's intelligence is incidental to his state of being. He has only firm feelings about three things: his mama, his Jenny, and God; everything else floats past him like the feather that opens and closes the film, and whether the film represents advocacy for this bliss or merely offers up a different perspective to the harder, more cynical attitudes our country has adopted in these modern times is left for the viewer to judge.

That's why Forrest Gump is a movie masterpiece. Forrest is the charismatic main character, and the film would lose its whole purpose for being if he weren't in it, or if Tom Hanks had not given his entirely Oscar-worthy performance as this man, but Forrest is as much a bystander in his story as the rest of us. The film is about perspectives, lessons learned, and love, and though told through dramatic historical events of the past 40-50 years, the film becomes the looking glass to our Alice. I think Zemeckis knew that when he agreed to direct this film, which is why he did such an amazing job. While the movie was commercially exploited to death by Paramount and everyone else, that doesn't mean that because of its "mainstream" position, its unusual main character, or its commercial success, that the film has lost any of its profundity, even as the years pass (if anything, it has become more profound with each new historical development in the 21st century).

The characters that represent the viewer are the people who sit at the bus stop with Forrest, on that Southern park bench, listening to him as he weaves the story of his life, which is all at once fantastic and yet wholly believable simply because, as Jenny often says, he doesn't know any better. They are us - each new member of his limited audience offers a different reaction within the broad spectrum possible in response to a story like his, and quite succinctly parallels the broad spectrum of reactions to the film in general that its release has garnered since 1994.

Besides the wonderful and touching performances of Hanks, Sinise, and Buttercup, I mean, Robin Wright Penn, and the wonderful story of life and love, Forrest Gump has so many other strong points. The soundtrack is completely awesome and kudos to Zemeckis and his creative team for picking recognizable and perfectly period-synced tunes that move the story along at a consistent and entertaining pace. It's one of the best soundtracks to own ever, by the way. Also, the visual effects are stunning, intermixing Forrest into footage of bygone figures, such as John F. Kennedy and George Wallace and John Lennon (and the editing must be truly superb to seamlessly interweave these scenes into the overall story arc). The attention to detail in art direction is truly magnificent; I could spend hours trying to find all of the little hints and nods to the event or occurrence at hand: consider that when Forrest goes to meet Kennedy after his stint on the All-American football team, he uses the restroom, wherein you hear strains from the musical Camelot and see a signed picture of Marilyn Monroe on the sink.

Forrest Gump is one of those rare movie vehicles that really does have it all, from superficial entertainment values to deep and meaningful artistic symbolism. The only flaw I ascribe to the film is the fact that the Republican Party took the film up as its poster child of the American dream and wholesome values (Forrest, in his simplicity of wants, represents the success of conservatism, while Jenny, who experiments with sex, drugs, and rock n roll, represents the degradation of liberalism). I don't think there is any political propaganda to be drawn from this film; in fact, I think the implications are far more philosophical, even metaphysical, and moreso than even the filmmakers realized, but it all hearkens back to love and the pain and wonder of life moving forward. I think Forrest Gump is that modern masterpiece, as you may be able to tell from my preachy review, so count me in that half of the population. As such, I'm inclined to give it a 10 for masterpiece! And for the two people who have not seen this film, please do not be put off by its "simple" protagonist and controversy. Watch the film and decide for yourself whether you find the film to be melodramatic and manipulative or having more layers than a casserole. For me, Forrest Gump will always be one of my favorite films because the whole of what it represents is so much greater than the sum of its extraordinary parts.