Going into last night’s Flora Film Fridays, I felt as though I was in the minority of people – I had never seen Forrest Gump before. It turns out that most people at the event were in the same position as me. I have never been a huge film buff, and in the past it never seemed as though this movie was worth watching, despite people touting it as a classic. Fortunately, I was wrong, and I ended up enjoying the movie much more than I expected. There was something incredibly endearing and uplifting about watching Forrest make his own way through life, suffering terrible tragedies and yet never losing his childlike innocence. Whether he was being bullied in school, fighting in a brutal war, or running across the country, he was never cruel and never cowardly. He was always just kind. It was second nature for him to help people, and although throughout the movie different people were constantly calling Forrest stupid, it seemed more as though he merely had simple intentions in life: to care for his loved ones and to be happy.

Personally, I loved the contrast of Forrest’s childlike innocence and the incredibly tumultuous period of history he was living through. He experienced the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination (as well as several other assassination attempts on various presidents), the Cold War, and even personal tragedies – such as his mother’s death – without ever losing his spirit. The movie sometimes crossed the line of realism into the ridiculous, but it never lost its humorous and heartfelt tone. Accompanied by Alan Silvestri’s nostalgic and beautiful score, this movie is one that truly surprised me and will likely stay with me for some time into the future.