It is even better the second time around”
(C.S. Lewis)
While I agree with Lewis about the re-reading of one’s favorite books, I also think it can be true of one’s favorite movies. Favorite films should be seen more than once. I don’t know how many times I have returned to some of my favorite movies such as “Hoosiers,” “American Graffiti,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “Saving Private Ryan,” or “Inventing the Abbotts.” I could name others. Many others.
Recently I found myself returning to watch the movie “Forrest Gump.” The first time I saw this movie I thought it was a good and entertaining movie, but wondered if it had any real social value. I guess I needed additional viewings. Forrest is the embodiment of an era in America, an age of innocence; and I think we would all agree that too much of America has now lost that innocence.
Forrest’s heart knew what his limited IQ didn’t. His moral compass never seemed to wavier. There are some great lines in the movie that quickly pass us by if we are not paying attention. “I’m not a smart man but I know what love is.”a good movie, entertaining,etc. Now whoever said that smart and love went hand in hand. In fact, probably some of the least smartest things one has done in life had to do with love.
“Simple doesn’t mean you don’t understand.” One of my most memorable years was after my retirement from the so called “real world;” I was on staff working with Special Olympic athletes. While some might think of them as simple, it was just not so, as they were some of the most perceptive people I have ever met.
Forrest’s mother (Sally Fields) often said “You gotta put the past behind you before you can move on.” Who among us has not needed to hear that line?
My favorite scene in the movie is when Forrest and his girlfriend, Jenny, are out walking and they come upon Jenny’s old house where she grew up. Almost immediately Jenny’s demeanor changed and she bent down to pick up rocks and began throwing them at her old house. She violently hurled rock after rock at the house until she was completely exhausted. Sobbing, almost out of control, she sank to the ground and placed her face in her hands. Forrest sat down next to her and then delivers what I think is the classic line of the movie:
I have often thought about that line. If one lives long enough they can rest assured that in their life time there will be something in which they will never have enough rocks to throw.
He and Jenny married; and near the end of the movie Forrest is found sitting at Jenny’s grave looking at her grave stone. He picked a flower and said, “Jenny, I tore down that house.”
More than likely there will be a time (s) in our life when there weren’t enough rocks; and hopefully there will also be someone there who will help us tear down our houses.
As with good books, there are good movies that we may need to see more than once.
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February 2, 2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson