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Ok, this last one is not a Vietnam War movie... Per se. But it's mostly based around that time and does have the war in it. I guess while I'm making excuses, I should also point out that you could say this movie talks about what happened on the mainland US during and also after the war. To be fully honest though, I just wanted a small break from all the grim-dark media and wanted something with a somewhat lighter tone.
This film hardly needs any introduction as it's one of the most popular "oscar bait" movies out there. It's also spawned countless internet memes, the most overdone and cringiest of which is "Run, Forrest!" Making such a joke nowadays can result in an immediate fine of up to $2,000, and you may even face jail time. This movie does invite some sorta interesting debates though, even to this day.
Before we get to the most popular one though, I want to submit a somewhat new take here. I don't think Forrest is actually medically retarded. Instead, I think his symptoms are actually far more indicative of him being an idiot-savant. Put an M14 rifle in front of an actually medically retarded person and tell them to disassemble and reassemble it. Spoiler, it's not gonna happen, and ESPECIALLY not in record time. Forrest also demonstrates a ridiculously good natural proficiency with ping-pong. He can also take care of himself pretty well and handle day-to-day tasks. Medical retards usually need someone to help them with such things. Not to say that Forrest isn't dumb in many other things. He certainly is. In social situations, most notably, he is very clearly out of his element, and I'm sure other normal skills like basic math were a struggle for him too, though that's just speculation.
So now we move on to the most popular debate. Is Jenny the devil or not? Well... This is kinda complicated. You will hear some pretty knee-jerk takes that Jenny was actually quite an awful person. I don't agree with this. Or at least, not fully. For one, you have to understand most importantly of all that Jenny was HEAVILY abused as a kid. That's not something you just brush off, even if she was thankfully later rescued and was able to live out her childhood under a much more kind parental figure. After that, going into adulthood, it was very clear that Jenny suffered from some absolutely terrible self-esteem. Therefore, though it's clear that she loved Forrest, she very, very probably thought that he was too good for her and tried to save him from herself. Of course, we know that that was a big mistake and led to her going through countless abusive boyfriends, some of which rightfully got the shit beaten out of them by the titular character.
But, sadly, Jenny WAS actually correct. Forrest can't keep saving her. But though she was talking about saving her from her abusive boyfriends at that time, Forrest also couldn't just run out to save Jenny from herself. Jenny, in the end, has to save Jenny. And also sadly, since Forrest is socially retarded, he never really understood that. Ok, but what about the kid? Ehhh... I'm thinking this was another wildly misguided attempt to protect Forrest. Ask any parent and they'll tell you the first, oh, two months with a newborn? They're hell. And Forrest is very socially retarded. He's probably not gonna know how to handle that whatsoever. But yes, it was still a mistake though. Forrest should have at very least been told that Jenny was pregnant. But people are people, and people are imperfect.
Putting all that aside then, the rest of the movie is somewhat entertaining but gets a little too repetitive. The rest of the runtime pretty much consists of Forrest constantly falling ass-first into success. Some of them are due to his natural talents, but even so, it's all pretty surface level and doesn't really offer too much to the viewing experience besides something idly interesting to watch in between the major plot points. So, for the conclusion then, I guess I would say you may want to watch this movie if you, for some reason, haven't yet, at very least to know what people are talking about when they talk about or reference this movie, but if you've already seen it, I don't think it really deserves another viewing.
This film hardly needs any introduction as it's one of the most popular "oscar bait" movies out there. It's also spawned countless internet memes, the most overdone and cringiest of which is "Run, Forrest!" Making such a joke nowadays can result in an immediate fine of up to $2,000, and you may even face jail time. This movie does invite some sorta interesting debates though, even to this day.
Before we get to the most popular one though, I want to submit a somewhat new take here. I don't think Forrest is actually medically retarded. Instead, I think his symptoms are actually far more indicative of him being an idiot-savant. Put an M14 rifle in front of an actually medically retarded person and tell them to disassemble and reassemble it. Spoiler, it's not gonna happen, and ESPECIALLY not in record time. Forrest also demonstrates a ridiculously good natural proficiency with ping-pong. He can also take care of himself pretty well and handle day-to-day tasks. Medical retards usually need someone to help them with such things. Not to say that Forrest isn't dumb in many other things. He certainly is. In social situations, most notably, he is very clearly out of his element, and I'm sure other normal skills like basic math were a struggle for him too, though that's just speculation.
So now we move on to the most popular debate. Is Jenny the devil or not? Well... This is kinda complicated. You will hear some pretty knee-jerk takes that Jenny was actually quite an awful person. I don't agree with this. Or at least, not fully. For one, you have to understand most importantly of all that Jenny was HEAVILY abused as a kid. That's not something you just brush off, even if she was thankfully later rescued and was able to live out her childhood under a much more kind parental figure. After that, going into adulthood, it was very clear that Jenny suffered from some absolutely terrible self-esteem. Therefore, though it's clear that she loved Forrest, she very, very probably thought that he was too good for her and tried to save him from herself. Of course, we know that that was a big mistake and led to her going through countless abusive boyfriends, some of which rightfully got the shit beaten out of them by the titular character.
But, sadly, Jenny WAS actually correct. Forrest can't keep saving her. But though she was talking about saving her from her abusive boyfriends at that time, Forrest also couldn't just run out to save Jenny from herself. Jenny, in the end, has to save Jenny. And also sadly, since Forrest is socially retarded, he never really understood that. Ok, but what about the kid? Ehhh... I'm thinking this was another wildly misguided attempt to protect Forrest. Ask any parent and they'll tell you the first, oh, two months with a newborn? They're hell. And Forrest is very socially retarded. He's probably not gonna know how to handle that whatsoever. But yes, it was still a mistake though. Forrest should have at very least been told that Jenny was pregnant. But people are people, and people are imperfect.
Putting all that aside then, the rest of the movie is somewhat entertaining but gets a little too repetitive. The rest of the runtime pretty much consists of Forrest constantly falling ass-first into success. Some of them are due to his natural talents, but even so, it's all pretty surface level and doesn't really offer too much to the viewing experience besides something idly interesting to watch in between the major plot points. So, for the conclusion then, I guess I would say you may want to watch this movie if you, for some reason, haven't yet, at very least to know what people are talking about when they talk about or reference this movie, but if you've already seen it, I don't think it really deserves another viewing.
