Film Analysis of Forrest Gump
The movie “Forrest Gump” is a comedy-drama film released in the year 1994 that is based on the famous novel with the same name; written by a great poet named Winston Groom and published in the year 1986. The production and release of the movie is considered as a major success as it earned and recorded earnings of about US$ 677 million worldwide during its global screening. As such, Forrest Gump is seen among the top grossing film in the North America that has been released in that year. Indeed, the film has experienced huge commercial success that has garnered a total of 13 Academy Award nominations.
Forrest Gump has won six of the Academy Awards including the Best Visual Effects, Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis and the Best Actor, for the outstanding screen play of the reputable movie actor Tom Hanks. The film’s massive success is seen as a global accomplishment and a pro-bono for a great movie like “Forrest Gump” that has been produced with superb taste of movie technology and with a profound flow of the story. The movie “Forrest Gump” tells about the profound story of a man and his impressive journey through life while influencing most of the people that he has met.
The movie tells the life of a man with the first-hand experiences narrated through historic events that happened in the 20th century while he is unaware of the significance he has done. This is attributed mainly to his lesser than average intelligence. In a sense, “Forrest Gump” is seen to be one of the classic movies which tell the success story of a man, which from being young has been through a lot of hardships and challenges made by his low IQ and physical condition, but later turned out to be a hero of his country due to his profound characteristics and moral conduct.
Forrest Gump, who is played by Tom Hanks, begins the movie by discussing his virtual level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his low IQ level, he is able to live a truly magical life that is seen to be of the most prominent state during the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century (Forrest Gump Summary). Without even hoping and trying, Forrest Gump has been through numerous successes wherein he became a football star, serves with honor in Vietnam War, gets to meet John F.
Kennedy, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, opens a profitable shrimp business and becomes an original investor in Apple Computers (Forrest Gump Summary). However, as the extraordinary story of his life goes by, Forrest has remembered Jenny, the girl he loved so much throughout his life, who takes her own life journey through the confusions of the 1960’s and 1970’s that is far more distressed than the path that Forrest has taken (Forrest Gump Summary).
Despite all the troubles and mischief Jenny had been through, Forrest still pursues his love with her and asks for a marriage (Forrest Gump Summary). Hence, Forrest Gump is a movie which tells a story of a true love and wonderful life wherein despite his condition, success and opportunity are equally granted for everyone regardless of intelligence (Forrest Gump Summary).
Moreover, Forrest Gump is as well renowned to be an addition to the list of excellent movie making by Director Robert Zemeckis wherein, apart from “Back to the Future,” this is movie is indeed of another masterpiece that he has ever done. As such, the structure of the film is seen to be of the standard and distinct taste of Director Zemeckis in using the movie technology that is evidently depicted through the structure of each scene in the movie.
Hence, it is evident that Director Zemeckis has included his talent in making use of the special effects to accordingly present every scene with clarity. With the fact that movie tells the sole story of a man (Forrest Gump), it can be said that Tom Hanks, as the leading character role, and his acting is seen to be effective wherein he is able to make an appropriate portrayal of a man that is challenged by his physical and mental shortcomings.
As such, for a story that only concentrates on the life of the main character, superb artistic acting condition is required to be able to sustain the interest of the viewers, of which Tom Hanks has done exactly wherein he is efficient to attract and sustain the attention of audiences all through out the movie, and remain to be entertaining in every scene in the movie. In analysis, the movie “Forrest Gump” is seen to be one of the cleverest movies.
With the thought that the flow of the tale in the movie depends on the story telling of Forrest Gump while sitting in the bus station, each of the scene is seen to be related as to how the story of Forrest progresses. In this regard, most of the scenes in the movie are seen to be the flashbacks of the life and experiences of Forrest Gump that tells about the tale of his childhood, life in college and professional careers as a football player as well as war veteran in Vietnam.
In thoughts, it can be said that using the element of flashbacks in a movie is perceived to be one of the most critical things to do wherein there is a great significance in determining the past and present time in the story in order to prevent confusions, among the audiences, as to how the tale of movie progresses. In this regard, the setting in the movie “Forrest Gump” has played an important role in depicting the accurate time, situation, surroundings and location in each and every specific period of time and events in the life of Forrest Gump.
As such, the settings in the scenes of the movie are done set up accordingly and are precise to a specific time and situation. For instance, during the younger days of Forrest the background and the costumes of the artist are normally seen to be of pale colors that are patterned to the specific period of time which creates an impression of a specific era. Moreover, the passage of time is evident in the movie due to the fact that story in the movie is encircled with the existence of various historical events and prominent people.
In this regard, special effects in the composition of each scene in the movie which tells about specific historical events and prominent people, such as the president, are seen to be a great use in order to differentiate specific period of time and era in the same frame. Specifically, the black and white effects that have been used in the scene where Forrest Gump gets to meet with President John F. Kennedy is a brilliant ideology wherein it creates an impression that very scene has happened in the past and is in one of the flashbacks in the life of Forrest in the past.
Cinematography, on the other hand, proceeds with every scene in the movie to be equally supported and detailed by the lighting. Certainly, cinematography or the element of lighting has been prominent, more especially in the scenes that are taken indoors, to provide clarity and drama which the scene requires. As such, lighting in the movie serves as an uplifting factor to add more emotions, more especially with that of the dramatic moments.
In addition to this, high key lighting has been helpful to create a lively impression among the upbeat scenes in the movie. Certainly, the editing of the movie has been an essential factor to the overall success of the movie. As such, it serves as the primary tool of Director Zemeckis to instil specific details in every scene in the movie. In addition to this, it also serves as the main organizer with regard to the progress of the movie in which editing is seen to be of most use in the scenes which requires higher amount of speed.
In a sense, the primary importance of the editing in the movie is seen to be more about controlling the accurate pace in each scene and putting the appropriate transition in order to provide more emotions and drama in the story. Likewise, it can be said that editing is seen to be of non-classical approach wherein the movie utilizes various special effects as most the scenes in the movie are flashbacks of the life of Forrest.
This only means that for a drama-comedy movie like “Forrest Gump,” special effects in editing are also applicable despite of the lower demand on it. Camera shots and angles, on the other hand, proved elements of management and are structured according to the details of the scene. Hence, the camera angles are set up to accordingly capture the emotions and provide the needed mood in each scene. In addition to this, camera framings and shots are also set to capture the emotions and add more details in every scene.
For instance, the tight framings are mostly used in scenes that entail dramatic moment, such as the dramatic scenes of Forrest and Jenny, to be able to capture the emotions through the facial expressions of the artists. On the other hand, wide framings in the movie are used depending on the setting of the scene wherein it is normally used to capture the entire background of the scene and normally in presenting the facade of specific location. Nonetheless, blockings in the movie are properly handled wherein all the element of each scene are accordingly captured.
Certainly, it can be stated that the movie “Forrest Gump” is seen to be of Mise-en-scene wherein the film and the flow of its story renders a greater emphasis and relies to the significance of the props, setting, costumes and lighting to be able to instil details in each every scene in the movie. With the fact that most of the scenes in the movie are the flashbacks of the life Forrest Gump, such elements in the movie are indeed of greater significance in order to be accurate in depicting specific period of time and historical events.
In the end, it can be said that “Forrest Gump” is one of the most interesting movies that have been released in the mid 1990’s that is produced within superb movie quality and amazing flow of story. Hence, it is indeed that “Forrest Gump” is an example of a movie that has utilized props, settings and costumes in order to render details of time and events in its story. Works Cited Forrest Gump Summary. All Media Guide LLC. 30 October 2008 <http://www. starpulse. com/Movies/Forrest_Gump/Summary/>
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