AFB – Forrest Gump

An Auto-Film-Biography that follows the movies that create someone who loves movies.

Up until Forrest Gump I hadn’t seen many dramas. When I started buying movies for myself, Forrest Gump was one of the first. For years I bought movies I loved so I could re-watch them over and over. In my 20s I realized I had a movie collection that was nearly all dramas.

Forrest Gump is about a man who many say is stupid. Forrest’s response is always: “Momma says stupid is as stupid does.” What that means is debatable. I think it means “you are what you do.” And what Forrest does is remarkable. He plays All-American football, fights in the Vietnam war, plays Ping Pong for America against China, runs across America, and he loves his Momma.

And he loves his Jenny.

Jenny is Forrest’s first friend. His only friend. He and Jenny were always like peas and carrots growing up. We learn a lot about who Forrest is by how he acts around Jenny. We see he’s fiercely loyal, caring, forgiving, and he doesn’t entertain possibilities like betrayal or deceit. Forrest knows of these concepts, but he refuses to entertain them.

The movie follows a number of American historical events from 1952 to 1972. Many of the scenes contain reworked television footage where Tom Hanks has been CGI’d in videos of President Kennedy, Captain Kangaroo, etc..

We meet Forrest on a bench waiting for the bus. A woman sits beside him; she works hard to remain focused on her magazine while Forrest jabbers on to her like a monkey in a tree. He talks about her shoes, he talks about chocolates, and he talks about Jenny. The majority of the film is Forrest re-telling us his life through conversations with various strangers on that bench. Watch closely when he’s talking to that woman just before Forrest shuts his eyes to imagine his first pair of shoes. The camera zooms in slowly towards Forrest’s face. You can see the woman in the frame for a good while, focused on her magazine. Then at the last moment when we are still able to see her, she looks away from her magazine and at Forrest; her attention, like ours, is now on him.

Forrest makes other friends too. One is his Lieutenant from the Vietnam War who, even after the war, Forrest calls Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise). Lieutenant Dan loses his legs in the war. Now, there’s lots of movies I can quote well. Lt. Dan is one of my favourite subjects:

That’s all these cripples, down at the V.A., that’s all they ever talk about. Jesus this and Jesus that. Have I found Jesus? They even had a priest come and talk to me. He said God is listening, but I have to help myself. Now, if I accept Jesus into my heart, I’ll get to walk beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Did you hear what I said? Walk beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, kiss my crippled ass. God is listening. What a crock of shit.

He throws an empty liquor bottle at a nightstand as he says he says “Did you hear what I said?” As long as Gary Sinise is happy on CSI Whatever, I’m fine with that. But Sinise is like an undervalued boxer. He has the swagger of Kevin Bacon, he dances like Viggo Mortensen, and he has a right hook like Duvall.

What makes the drama of Forrest Gump so compelling is Forrest’s nature. Jenny tells Forrest he doesn’t know what love is. What she probably means is he doesn’t understand its complexities. He doesn’t understand all love entails: The disagreements, the forgiveness, the compromise, and the constant work. She’s right about that. Forrest’s gift is ignorance. He follows his Momma’s creed like he follows orders in the army. Lessons we are all told but falter from.

Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.

Mama always said miracles happen every day.

Maybe the best parts of me are Forrest. Maybe the best parts of all of us are too. Jenny asks “Why are you so good to me?” “You’re my girl,” he replies. It really is as simple as that.