Great Moments From Cinema - 33

The Box Of Chocolates
Movie: Forrest Gump (Paramount Pictures; 1994)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Screenplay: Winston Groom (book) and Eric Roth
Major Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise and Sally Field

Film Synopsis: Tom Hank’s ‘Forest Gump’ is a man with very little intelligence, who takes us through 3 decades of American history. On the way he becomes famous and amasses a lot of wealth, but still strives for his one true love, ‘Jenny’, played by Penn.

My Favorite Moment: ‘Forrest’ realizing that he has a son.

Why I Like It: For people of America, this is a national treasure. The movie is a keen insight for all those who want to learn about this country’s cultural history as experience by a common man. ‘Forest’ was born with a low IQ and always listened to whatever his mother told him. His world is very small and revolves around her and ‘Jenny’, the only friend he ever had and whom he loves with all his heart. Somehow, this simple person gets involved in every major American cultural event from 50’s to the 80’s. He is his a star football player in high school, becomes a hero in Vietnam, is on the first American ping-pong team to visit China, is invited to the ‘White House’ several times, is responsible for the exposure of the ‘Watergate scandal', becomes a successful shrimp-boat captain, becomes a millionaire stock holder and then gathers a huge following as he runs to and fro between the American coasts because he just felt like running. He achieves this all because his mind is pure and believes whatever he is told. Beyond that, he does not know any limitations. But through this, all he wants is ‘Jenny’s’ love. She gets lost in the haze of the 60’s during which their paths converge periodically. She loves him a lot but is a confused woman who doesn’t know where she is going and thus afraid to make a commitment.

They spend a night together and have a son whom she has kept away from ‘Forrest’. When she realizes that she is dying, she calls for him and he ends up on her doorstep. She says that she named the boy ‘Forrest’, after his father, and he still does not realize what she is implying. When told that the boy is indeed his son, Hanks subtle change of facial expression is probably the high point of this movie. His eyes communicate all of his emotions from shock to joy to apprehension as he asks if the boy is stupid like him.

Tom Hanks was a great actor before this film, but has become a living legend since then. His scene at ‘Jenny’s’ grave at the end is as heartbreaking as his acting earlier in the film when in response to her turning down his marriage proposal he says, “Why don't you love me, Jenny? I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is”. The rest of the cast is excellent as well with Penn making a perfect ‘Jenny’ and with a magical musical score by Alan Silvestri. Several movies take a stand when they show American history. The importance of this film lies in its depiction of events without any prejudice because ‘Forrest’ has none. For him, life is like ‘a box of chocolates’ and one never knows what he is going to get. No person who has seen this film will ever forget it and I suspect that its greatness will only grow with passing years. All movies are made with great vision. Some, like this one, are just meant to happen. Just as the previews promised, the world has never been the same, ever since I’ve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump.

Great Moments From Cinema - 32

The Monolith Of Intelligence

Movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM; 1968)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke
Major Cast: Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain as the voice of HAL 9000

Film Synopsis: From the dawn of man to his quest in search of new civilizations, this film is an exploration of what classifies us as intelligent life-forms and asks if we are prepared to take the next step towards uncovering the mysteries of the universe.

My Favorite Moment: An ape throwing up a mammalian bone and the scene cutting to a spaceship of the same shape.

Why I Like It: It will possibly take a much better person that me, perhaps a philosopher, to review this movie; such is its vast scope. A landmark in the history of cinema, the film is as stunning today, as it was 38 years ago and I believe that it will stand the test of time for the next 100 years. The movie is more to be sensed than seen, like a piece of art or a maestro’s concerto. It may not rank on top of everybody’s lists of favorite films, but it is one of the most transcendent experiences and certainly the single most influential sci-fi film of all time.

The movie opens at the time during the dawn of mankind and when apes were the inhabitants of this planet. Kubrick spends 20 minutes here, establishing how man may have evolved as a race; how the advent of a monolith, with its smooth sides may have inclined the apes to think and use their hands as tools; how there were clans even amongst apes and how the first intelligent thought may have been to use bones as weapons to fight. One of the apes does this wherein he picks up a bone and starts striking the rest of the skeleton of a dead animal. His strokes become more violent and finally as he throws the bone up in the air, Kubrick cuts to thousands of year’s in the future and in outer space where a ship is orbiting the earth. Set against the background of Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, the most recognizable theme from movies, this is probably one of the most exhilarating moments in cinema. The movie resumes at the dawn of 21st century when another monolith has been discovered on the moon and just as the previous one had pointed to the sky as the next step in man’s journey, this one points towards Jupiter. This sets off a mission commanded by the pilot Dullea and which, amongst other crew members includes the super computer HAL 9000. What happens next makes HAL one of the greatest super villains of cinema. Kubrick leaves the film open-ended and forces the audience to ask several questions such as, what might be the key to our development as a civilization.

People should only see this film when they are mature enough to grasp its overall implications. It requires tremendous patience and perhaps multiple viewings, for a person to appreciate its cultural significance. But no film education is complete without experiencing this movie and sooner or later one will arrive at it. It should be mandatory viewing for anyone who thinks that movies are just mindless waste of time. It shows what makes humans intelligent, how insignificant we are as compared to the universe and how it may be the time to take the next step.