Forrest Gump - a movie to watch, revise and learn by heart!

This weekend we revised Forrest Gump. For the uninitiated, it is a Tom Hanks movie in which he is a man with low IQ but immensely gifted with every other quality. The movie makes you smile from the beginning to the end and if you still haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend it to you.

There are several things you can learn from the movie. Here are a few learnings that I thought I’d share:

*If you have any short-comings, a loving mother is all you need. If she tells you that you are no different than the rest of the world, you would grow up believing that and be much more confident. Forrest’s mother was like God to him. She told him 'don't let anyone tell you that you are different.' He followed everything she said and rightly so.

*The saying ‘Be kind to everyone you meet’ is not stressed hard enough. Jenny was the first friend Forrest made as a child just because she let him sit next to him in the bus. They were inseparable there on. Forrest’s love for her is the kind of stuff fairytales are made of. It was just her kindness that gave her that treasure.

*Never use the word promise or forever if you don’t mean it. Forrest always kept his promises. He promised his friend Bubba that they will catch shrimp together. Even after Bubba dies, Forrest kept his promise which not only made him a millionaire, but gave a lot of hope to several other people as well.

*When someone says that he wants to die, don’t believe him. Give him all the love and support for he needs that to live. Forrest saves a life while fighting in Vietnam. The soldier doesn’t want to be saved because he knows he will be crippled for life. Forrest goes ahead anyway. He later becomes his partner in the shrimping business and leads a fulfilling life.

*Life is not about being smart or dumb, it is how you take things by your stride. Gump wasn't the smartest guy and so he saw life from a very different or what some would call, juvenile perspective. When he gets shot in the buttocks, all he sees is the joy in getting ice cream! He dedicates himself in playing table tennis in the hospital and becomes a national champion. If only we all could move away from our problems the way he did.

“Stupid is as stupid does.” (You are what you do), “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get.” (Life is unpredictable but in the end, everything works out just fine), “You have to do the best with what God gave you.” (need I say more?), “Sometimes, I guess, there just aren’t enough rocks.” (even if you try to forget, sometimes you just can’t move on),  "There's only so much fortune one man needs, the rest is just showing off." – are a few sayings from the movie. Now I know which movie to watch, what to quote, whom to remember whenever I’m blue.

The movie captures history beautifully. From Elvis Presly to Kennedy to Vietnam war, there are a lot of references to the current affairs in the period that the movie depicts. Tom Hanks is as awesome as ever. And there are songs that would make you feel happy whenever you hear them.

Go ahead, watch it, and then again!
And if you ever get a chance to eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company , don't forget the garlic bread. The one we had at the San Francisco outlet was to die for! See, Forrest kept his promises beyond the movie as well - the shrimps are simply divine!