Movie Review

Title: The pursuit of happiness

Summary
Ok this movie is based on the true story of Mr. Chris Gardner who from obscurity rose to face challenges that life brings and prevail. The movie is set in 1981 San Francisco, California. Chris Gardner (Will Smith), his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) and his five-year-old son Christopher Jr live in a small apartment. Chris has invested the family's life savings in a franchise selling portable bone density scanners. These scanners provide slightly denser pictures than X-rays, but most of the doctors Chris visits find that they are too high-priced. Linda works in a dead-end job in a local hotel laundry. The tension between them mounts as unpaid rent and bills continue to accumulate. Chris often parks his car in disallowed areas so he can make scheduled appointments on time, and after parking tickets remains unpaid, their car is impounded. After missing a shift at her job, Linda finally leaves with their son Christopher, returns briefly, and then departs for New York City, where a better job awaits her, leaving behind the boy at his father's request. Chris accepts an unpaid internship at brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds that promises employment to only one trainee at its conclusion. His lack of salary, and his lack of scanners to try to sell, leaves him riddled with debt, and he and his son eventually become homeless. After spending several nights riding buses and sleeping in subway restrooms, saddled with their meager belongings, they begin lining up at the Glide Memorial Church on a daily basis in an effort to secure accommodations for the night. Sometimes they succeed, other times they literally are left out in the cold. As he struggles to provide a semblance of a family life for his son under the most dire of circumstances, things finally seem to look better as Chris becomes more determined to complete the intern program and become the sole trainee the firm will hire. He risks flesh and bone to be the best in what he is doing.
In the end, Chris gets the job and later starts his own brokerage firm, called Gardner Rich, in 1987.
My Thoughts:
This movie is one that really touches the heart not just because its has a climax that could even melt a hard of stone but also due to phenomenal performance by Will smith and his son. They have demonstrated the close bond between a father and a son and how just by looking for support from each other and fighting for each other they make it. It shows the love of a father and his struggle to give his son a good life as far as possible. This movie is even more inspirational as this is not just a fictional one. It is a true story of a true person. Truly this movie is one to be played among the legends of movies. This story actually tries to depict what is life and what people have to do to survive. It shows us the day to day struggle of some people giving us an in-depth insight of life and what it really means to be a working member of the community. It teaches the value of money and how much we youth actually take it for granted. It really makes you think is m lifestyle that I am living the right one. It made m think about the way I look at my dad and how hard he works so that my family can enjoy a life full of luxuries that we do not even think twice while handing over the money to cashier.
The most touching scene for me was when they had been kicked out of their apartment due to the lack of paying their rents. Their things were just kept out of their room. This was just as he found out that the bone scanner he found was broken and he need the money very badly. Everything was looking down for them. They went to the subway with no where to go. Riding the trains till very late. They were at the station and Chris was trying to think of what to do next. When his son started pestering him that he wanted to go home. Then Chris got him to close his eyes and pretended that his broken bone scanner was a time machine and that the where going to travel to the past where dinosaurs lived. He got him to pretend that they were cavemen and that they were being attacked by T-Rexes. Cleverly getting his son into the toilet telling him that they had reached their caves and were finally safe. He got him to sleep and on the floor on toilet paper. There with no where to go it sets on him that he has no where to go and nothing to do. Right their on the toilet floor he silently cries to himself with his son in his lap. And then someone tries to get in to the toilet and tries to jerk open the door that the point in time where your heart just falls out as he uses his leg to block the door.

-Justin-