A New Look at Gump

On Saturday night, I was feeling quite pleased with myself at cranking out the Bomb Squigs so I sat down and finally watched the Blu-ray of Forrest Gump that I bought ages ago. Gump is one of my favorite movies of all time. I haven’t watched it in probably five or six years, but it’s always been dear to me. But I have always disliked the sequence where Forrest “goes for a run” and doesn’t stop for three plus years. It happens right after Jenny leaves him (again), and the problem I’ve always had with it is that it felt like a cheap way to advance time and I also didn’t like that it really has no resolution. He eventually just gets tired of running and decides to go home. That never sat right with me.

Turns out I was just missing the point. Considering some of the crap that’s been going on in my life the last year or so I TOTALLY GET IT NOW. I completely understand the need to in Forrest’s own words, “for no particular reason” just start running (or baking, or hobbying or whatever). I especially like the little bit where people start following him and expect him to be some sort of messiah (the Jesus beard and hair don’t help to dissuade them LOL), and are then disappointed and lost when he just quits.

Yeah, it’s still the same movie and it still ends the same way every time (with tears streaming down my face and a big dopey grin shining between those tears), but what was once the low point of the film for me has become one of its strengths and has enhanced an already tremendous movie experience for me.

A great film can sustain me for days. It’s my drug of choice. And being able to find something new in a movie that I thought had revealed all its secrets years ago is rare indeed.