Movie review: Pursuit of Happyness

One of the most inspiring movies ever made. It teaches you that if you have a dream, then you gotta protect it. There are people who can't do something themselves, they want to tell you that you can't do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.

No one would make a movie about a guy struggling to succeed, who eventually doesn't ultimately succeed. Certainly, no one would make a Will Smith movie about a guy who breaks under the strain of his difficult life, abandons his child and dies. That's just not going to happen. And because we know that we've seen more than one movie in our lives‐‐"The Pursuit of Happiness" has a particular challenge. To take the real life rags to riches story of stockbroker Chris Gardener, a story with a inevitable happy ending, and sleep it with tension and suspense.

The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny. It may have seemed that way from the trailer: Will Smith tells his son, "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something -‐ even me." But in context, even that moment isn't cheesy. The beauty of the film is in its honesty. In its outlines, it's nothing like the usual success story shown on the screen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives. It might take time, but it is just around the corner. Instead, this success story follows the pattern which is most common in life--series of soul-sickening failures and defeats, missed opportunities, sure things that didn't quite happen. In other words, it all feels real.

As in all rags to riches tales, we find the protagonist Chris(Will Smith), is unappreciated and looked down upon at the start. He is struggling to make a go of it by selling bone-density scanners and spends his days lugging around a thing that looks like a movie projector case and hearing doctors projector case and hearing doctors tell him they're not interested. His wife disdains him, meaning not apprreciating his effort. Actually, the treatment of the wife is the first hint that "The Pursuit of Happiness" is going to be an usually  uncompromising movie. The wife (Thandie Newton) is a poisonous harpei, with no redeeming traits.

The filmmaker are not messing around: Chris has it bad. They have made an effort to show he is at bottom. In the lowest point of his life. In fact, he is an extraordinary man, but no one is paying attention to him long enough to notice. He decides he wants to get an internship ad a stockbroker for Dean Witter and realising that his resume looks weak, he sets out to meet the man in charge and say a few words on his own behalf. Throughout the film, Chris had just a little more pride and a little less intelligence, he would blow it. But he remains friendly and resilient, never indulging in anger, never letting anyone else's mistaken perception of wound him at his cores. He stays fixed on his objective, warm in his response to the world - meaning he shouldn't care about other people's opinion and he should stay focused -  but even then, things don't improve right away. But they do. There is so much to learn from that. You might get punched down. But get up and walk it off. Head towards your goal.

This film is amazing, heartfelt performance certain to influence and motivate its audience to reach a new heights. This film is based on a true gripping and dramatic story about a man who has nothing and his struggle towards character development can be slow but offers a lot of insight towards character development and explore these themes about  patience and success and especially what motivates us and keeps  us going.

In short - Amazing movie. Very poignant, relevant and uplifting. Leaves you thinking about it for days!!

-Yusra Fathima
1st BSc FND