Forest Gump is nothing short of an American classic. The lengthy yet incredible movie tells the story of the most controversial war in American History, The Vietnam War, through the eyes of an idiot. What’s so great about the film is the idea of it. Anyone could have done a documentary on the war or a film that only focuses on the war from a soldiers point of view, but Robert Zemeckis, the director of the film used the book (Forest Gump) to tell the story in a way no one had seen before. It begins from Forest’s life as a young boy all the way to adulthood. He narrates all that he saw; everything from the Vietnam War to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
What really made me think the movie was a excellent peace of cinema was the way historical places and events were used as background to what was going on in a scene. Also I couldn’t help, but notice Forest’s level of understanding being higher than all those who had higher IQ’s than him. Lastly, his loyalty to his mom, Jenny, and the United States showed how great a man he was despite his lack of book smarts.

This scene shows Forest speaking at the Washington Memorial about the Vietnam War in a negative way or at least attempting to. No soldier was allowed to speak about the war in a negative light. Midway through his speech he sees Jenny. He hadn’t seen her in a long time because he was in Vietnam. they have a wonderful moment running towards each other in the water. The memorial serves as the setting in this scene and plays second to the dialog going on. Great peace of cinema here.

A perfect Example of Forest Gump’s loyalty to Jenny. She knew she didn’t deserve him, but they both understood that she needed him and he needed her too. They had a dysfunctional relationship because Jenny was lost for an awful long time. She even treated him like crap a couple times. By this pint in the movie Forest was a millionaire, had been a college football star at Alabama, fought in Vietnam, and met the president. Yet he still wanted to take care of Jenny when she became sick. That’s Loyalty.

One of the most touching scenes in the entire movie. Forest jumps off his boat to run to his mother who is sick and dying slowly of cancer.He accomplished so much by this point just like he did in the scene above when he talks to Jenny. His loyalty to his mother shows his humility as well. You don’t have to be smart to be humble and in a way Forest being an idiot made him that much more humble because he thought nothing he did was a big deal. He saw life better than even geniuses do.