Finding Forrester - Park

If I had name a movie from all the movies I've ever watched since my childhood that could delivery such valuable excitement, thrills and morals in life it'd definitely have to be "Finding Forrester", written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant.

 It came to my surprise that "Finding Forrester" did not win an Oscar or any prizes at all. Perhaps, because it didn't have any substantial VFX (VFX also means Visual Effects, an essential tool that nearly every Hollywood's movie has) but I thought such advanced movie technologies weren't needed for such emotions-rich movie like "Finding Forrester". This movie is all about hustling through life's struggles, becoming stronger in order to follow, and succeed your dream. Of course, those elements and scenarios only happen together in movies because I don't think any human being would be able to handle such changes, or lucky enough to even come across such changes that happened to Jamal. Although, I have witnessed  people, mostly my friends, who overcame their weaknesses and continued to follow their dreams, regardless of the hard circumstances they were facing.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie "Finding Forrester" is the scene where Forrester appeared in Jamal's new school and read Jamal's story in front of the students, teachers and the Professor Crawford specifically. Since Jamal's writing talents were recognized through his writing test results, Professor Crawford had always doubted those were really Jamal's. Failed to write a story in Professor Crawford’s office, it led Professor Crawford to decide to expel Jamal from the school since he did not have any talents in writing which everyone thought he did. The scene was like a hit-in-the-face to Professor Crawford for his mockery and jealousy.

I believe there is more than one theme that can be found in "Finding Forrester". But out all of the themes that can be found in the movie, I believe 'Following your dream or passion in life' is the most revealing and solid theme in the movie, coming from Jamal's overcoming his struggles to be able to continue pursuing his dream as a writer. Jamal was rather, a special person because not only Jamal was at top in his basketball team, he was also an extraordinary writer. His passions for those two talents were so strong and magnificent that nobody could ever stray him away from them, not even his Mom or Professor Crawford. I believe nobody could have ever stopped Jamal from becoming a writer or a basketball player or both, but there was this moment at the end of the movie that kind of pushed Jamal in to the writing career and that was the death of his teacher, his talent-developer, his best friend, William Forrester.

I love this movie, and I’d want to recommend “Finding Forrester” to everyone I know. I think it’s one of the most beautiful, and meaningful movie at its genre, and the only movie that has ever successfully made me snuff. I’m sure not just me, but whoever has ever watched this movie will never forget the beautiful, evocative and unforgettable friendship of Jamal and William.