One of the first film images I remember having a strong reaction to as a child was seeing the character Lt. Dan (played by Gary Sinise) without his legs in 1994's Forrest Gump. I had never before seen a film image that visually or viscerally painful and strong. Simply put, you could, in a sense, feel the physical and emotional pain of this character. (I had a similar, perhaps stronger, response to later films like 1993's Schindler's List and 1998's Saving Private Ryan.)
That kind of visual effects trickery is peppered throughout the film, as is its unconventional, yet straightforward, storytelling (which director Robert Zemeckis never forsakes along the way, as is one of his many trademarks). Viewers are then initially unsure of what's going to happen to this character, where he's going to go, and what he's going to do, as Forrest (played memorably by Tom Hanks) tells his story from a park bench at a bus stop to different people who come and go.
Based on Winston Bloom's novel (and adapted for the screen by Eric Roth), Forrest Gump is a simple man from Alabama, with an IQ of 75, who lives an extraordinary (if episodic) life through many significant moments in history from the 1950s to the early-1980s, from when he was a little boy with leg braces, to when he became a football star, a Vietnam war hero, a shrimp boat captain, a ping-pong champion, and a runner across America. Not to mention meeting a few US Presidents and a former Beatle along the way. You could say Forrest sort of echoes Peter Sellars' Chance the Gardener from 1979's Being There.
"It used to be, I ran to get where I was going. I never thought it would take me anywhere."
The landmark visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic seemlessly incorporate Hanks into real archival footage with past presidents (such as when he meets JFK after drinking several Dr. Pepper sodas), in addition to how they digitally removed Lt. Dan's legs. This effect on history, both visual and viscerally, is still quite remarkable 25 years later. Plus, Zemeckis's skill in using popular music from each respective decade (as well as Alan Silvestri's moving, often magical score) to push the story forward is worthy of praise.
What makes Forrest's story even more powerful (and, at times, heartbreaking) is how his simple upbringing and innocence contrasts against an ever-growing, "confusing," and (in Sinise's words) "crippled" America affected by war, drugs, alcoholism, sex, and politics. And it is sad to see such depravity and harshness portrayed in certain scenes, nothing like Forrest describing "every kind of rain there is".
Plus, the embodiment of the feather floating around during the opening credits serves as a significant metaphor for floating through life, as opposed to being here for a reason, for a destiny. When one character asks Forrest if he's "given any thought to [his] future," this could be interpreted as either throwing caution to the wind, or taking life as it comes at you; drifting through life, or being intentional in it. Either way, it's a topic worthy of discussion, as is the notion of sudden impacts in life--that is, a reminder that things could end "just like that". Hard but true.
"I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is."
On the other hand, it is quite moving to see how Forrest (no matter how outlandish or ridiculous he may seem) impacts the people around him, if only for a moment. Whether its his "Mama" (Sally Field), who encourages him to never look at himself as anything less than anybody or everybody else; his fellow soldier, best friend, and shrimp-talker Bubba (Mykelti Williamson); or his life-long love Jenny (Robin Wright), a beautiful girl damaged by the world since childhood, whom Forrest loves unconditionally, despite her constant misguided and reckless search for what she believes is "love," which she apparently never received from an abusive father.
It could be argued that Jenny is an example of what happens when you don't make peace with the pain of your past, something Forrest learns through running and eventually learning to move on. In other words, embracing what you've experienced or lived through, and going from there. But it's, perhaps, Lt. Dan who is the most transformed and developed character of them all, who goes from blaming Forrest for inadvertently interfering with what he believes was his destiny (and family tradition) to die in battle to, in time, seeing the profound impact this has on him.
"For some reason, what I was doing seemed to make sense to people."
This is a rare film that is both hilariously quotable and very moving with subtle sentimentality. It's epic filmmaking on a personal level, with a story that reflects "unsung heroes who make a difference and do so much [in service to others]," according to Sinise. To me, its a personal story of a man nobody saw potential in, and yet who goes on to live an extraordinary life, no matter how outlandish it may seem.
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