"Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get."
This is one of the memorable lines in the 1994 film Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) spoke the words with the innocence of a child.
I admit I am no sucker for tearjerkers, but watching Forrest Gump made me ponder, in between laughing and holding back tears, that there’s a grain of truth in the words of this fictional character who gives the impression that he’s a sage masquerading as a retardate because of the words of wisdom he imparts.
Watching Forrest Gump is like seeing the world through the eyes of a babe. Named after General Nathan Bedford Forrest, an American Civil War officer and leader of the notorious Ku Klux Klan, he never lived to his namesake’s reputation. Instead, he found a brother in an Afro-American, the shrimp-obsessed Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue (Mykelti Williamson).
Forrest remained unaffected by his encounters with John Lennon whom he inspired to write Imagine; Elvis Presley who learned his trademark gyrations from the young Forrest and his meetings with three American Presidents.
Forrest’s presence in significant and turbulent chapters in American history did not bloat his ego. In the Vietnam War, he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award in the US military. He placed a phone call upon witnessing the historic break-in at the Watergate Hotel that precipitated the downfall of Richard Nixon. Forrest was a success in American football and actively participated in Uncle Sam’s ping pong diplomacy with China. He enjoyed a windfall from his business ventures and had well-publicized three-year marathon across the breadth of the continental US.
Yet he remained through all these.
"You have to do the best with what God gave you," is sound advice from somebody whose I.Q. is 75. Bereft of superior intellect and endowed only with ordinary looks, Forrest’s success story could be attributed to this nugget of wisdom. He built a mound of achievements with the little he was given, contrary to the popular belief that you have to be richly blessed to outshine your more ordinary brethren.
The film’s choice of an overachieving simpleton for a hero is highly effective in debunking the popular belief that one should be his own slave driver to attain his goals. Forrest intoned another unforgettable and mushy line, "I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is," for his childhood friend and object of affection, Jenny Curran (Robin Wright-Penn), who degenerated from wholesome country lass to full-fledged hedonist and junkie before she succumbed to a relatively unknown disease that resembled AIDS.
Forrest taught me that love could be more elusive than wealth and success and the last refuge for a broken body and soul is the warm bosom of a beloved.
Another case of love in the movie was the heart-warming bond between the sagely and affectionate Mrs. Gump (Sally Field) and her son. Aware of her child’s mental handicap, she never bore on him the full weight of his condition and shielded him from snide remarks about his unique state.
Forrest Gump may not be my standard movie fare, but the treasure trove of wisdom and the gamut of valuable lessons about life it gave me are not to be forgotten.
Besidese the cast’s magnificent performance, the sometimes biting humor, the charming story of innocence and true love, Forrest Gump amazes me because it tells an unforgettable fairy tale of an honest, decent man who views the world not through a cynical adult’s eyes, but through the untainted vision of a child.