Living In The Moment

Living in the Moment

"Forrest Gump" is a heart warming movie that tells a story of a mentally challenged man's journeys and accomplishments during a very important era in American History. The shy, good hearted character of Forrest Gump was played marvelously by Tom Hanks. Hank's presence on the screen has never been stronger than when he stepped into the role of Forrest Gump. Director Robert Zemeckis uses the movie Forrest Gump to portray a man's life of trials and tribulations with love, friendship, life experiences, and death. Forrest grows up developmentally disabled and in addition has braces on his legs. His disabilities gives the audience the feel of Forrest being adorably childlike and naive even when he is a grown man. The movie shows how a man that seems to have so little can accomplish so much.

The movie starts off with Forrest as a boy growing up in the 50's in a small town in Alabama. While growing up he creates a strong bond with the character Jenny. This is ironic because both Forrest and Jenny did not grow up in a normal environment. Jenny was frequently beaten and raped by her father. Zemeckis uses Jenny and Forrest's childhood friendship as the starting block for his most important relationship in the movie. Jenny would be Forrest's drive in life as well as somewhat of a life teacher. Throughout the movie Forrest gets tied up in different altercations trying to help and defend Jenny from others as well as from herself.

Zemeckis uses random situations in Forrest's life to lead him for the better. For instance while Forrest is being bullied Jenny tells him to," Run Forrest, run!" Forrest then starts to run from the bullies and continues to run through an ongoing football game, passing up everyone on the field with his blazing speed. Zemeckis uses this scene to get Forrest noticed by football legend "Bear" Bryant and an opportunity to play football with a scholarship at the University of Alabama. Through out the movie Forrest is frequently strategically placed into power events throughout American History but marvelously edited to seem as if he really existed in that moment of history. Unique filming and editing is credited to Zemeckis for placing Forrest in actual footage of meetings with Presidents JFK and LBJ. Other powerful instances that Zemeckis allows Forrest to witness first hand are: The Nixon Watergate Scandal, the desegregation of the schools in the south, as well as Forrest teaching an unknown traveler how to dance who would later be better known as the "King of Rock", Elvis Presley.

This movie accurately paints a picture of America from the 50's to the present. Zemeckis portrays the political revolutionary feel and drug use of the 60's and 70's as well as the technological advances of the 80's. The use of actual American History