Watch Forrest! Gump!

Forest Gump Be Reel Blog

     The film Forrest Gump is a fictional life story narrated by the main character, Forrest. He tells his story at a bus stop for the majority of the film, then he leaves the stop and takes a present role in the film. This continues until his son walks onto the schoolbus just as Forrest had in the beginning of his story. One aspect of the film that was executed very well is the integration of US history. The plot of the film passes through many key points of controversial issues in the time period. After Forrest graduates from high school, he enlists in the military, serving a tour in Vietnam. After he returns home, he follows his friend Jenny to a Black Panther meeting where he causes a scene and then leaves, apologizing for his behavior. These two parts of the movie, disregarding Forrest, are historically accurate. The film not only depicts these important pieces of our past, but also integrates the fictional story to draw significance to Forrest. For example, there is a scene where Forrest is dancing to the music of a guest at his mother’s bed and breakfast. The guest shows interest in Forrest’s dance and later the audience sees the guest on TV with the name Elvis. Elvis then does the same dance that Forrest was doing for him before. These series of events draw significance to Forrest’s existence, showing how he had been the architect of many events in history.

I really enjoyed this film. My favorite part is the humor of it. There are so many scenes that make me laugh out loud and its all clean humor. For example, there is one scene where Bubby asks Forrest if he’d ever seen a shrimp boat, as in a boat that one would fish for shrimp in. Forrest responds, “I’ve never seen a shrimp boat, but I’ve seen a really big boat.” Forrest’s lack of understanding in many situations creates lots of humor. There are also instances where huge moments in history are placed in the plot that instill humor. For example, there is a scene where Forrest is staying in the Watergate Hotel. He is being kept awake by a group of people with flashlights in another room and calls security to look into the issue. This ended up being the Watergate scandal. The way that Forrest just happens to set off major events in history is a very humorous part of the film.

Official Rating: Good Good