In this post, I would like to recommend a movie I watched, The Pursuit of Happyness. The film is actually an biography of Chris Gardner. It takes place in San Francisco, 1981. Chris Gardner (Will Smith) loses all his money in a bad investment. Soon his wife leaves him to go to New York. Chris goes against several challenges, such as homelessness, while holding down a job as an unpaid intern. Through hard work, he eventually succeeds in life, opening his own brokerage firm.
You will notice that in the title, "happiness" is spelt wrongly. This is not a mistake, and actually relates to the film. Chris' son goes to a daycare, and one day Chris notices that on a mural painted by the children, "Happiness" is spelt wrongly. The proprietress points out that the spelling error does not matter, only that the children have it. This causes Chris to contemplate the quote "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness", which comes from the Declaration of Independence.
I found this film more engaging than most, even though my first impression was that it was one of those typical rags-to-riches movies, but this film exceeded my expectations. Firstly, I thought that the plotline was more realistic than most, like Slumdog Millionaire. Secondly, I felt that the acting was well done, and Will Smith pulled off his role well. I felt that though this movie exhibited a rather cliche theme "work hard and you will succeed", I still felt touched at the end of the movie.
I think that this movie is a worthwhile watch, and I would recommend you to watch it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Dear Kenneth,
I watched the movie myself, and I feel that it was quite interesting, and touching at certain parts. For example, when Chris finally gets a job as a broker, you can tell how happy he is, such that he is moved to tears.
But before that, there is a joke that Chris' son made, which goes like this:
A man was in the water and he could not swim. a boat came along and the man asked, "Get in or you will drown." "No, Jesus will save me." So, the man rowed away. A bigger boat came along and the man said, "Get in or you will drown." "No, Jesus will save me." the man then died and went to heaven. He asked Jesus "Why didn't you save me?" Jesus said, "I sent two boats u big dummy!"
This joke, unknown to the child, reflects Chris' life. He made a failed investment(falling into the river) and now God is trying to help him back up. Such a joke seems to be urging him to take the chance to hold on to opportunities provided to him.
This joke makes up the whole gist of the story; hold on to your opportunities, and go in The Pursuit of Happyness.
Wen Hong 2I1
Post a Comment