Sunday, November 20, 2011

Forrest Gump

We watched this movie the other night, inspired by the restaurant Bubba Gump we visited while on vacation. I saw it once when it came out in 1994, and so had my husband. After less than fifteen minutes, we sent the kids out of the room so we could do some parental screening.

Oh, my gosh, I am so glad we did that! Jenny’s story is tragic! While Forrest manages to be at a humorously improbable number of historic events throughout the 60s and 70s, Jenny lives life on the other side of the coin.  Forrest’s luck doesn’t end at witnessing major events.  He goes to Vietnam and saves a number of his fellows-in-arms by running into the fray and carrying them to safety.  He wins a medal for that, affording an opportunity to meet ‘another’ of the US Presidents.  Back home, Forrest’s boat is the only one to survive a hurricane, allowing them to monopolize the shrimping industry.  Then his friend invests his money into Apple, so he never has to worry about money again.

Then there is Jenny.  Her dad abuses her, and she seems to drift from one abusive man to another for most of her life.  She is addicted to drugs, poor and hopeless.  Her ‘happy’ ending is marrying Forrest after getting what I presume is AIDS and dying in his mother’s bed.  Her life breaks my heart!  I just bawled.  Brian kept telling me it isn’t real. Men!

 

Her life seems an analogy for many lives.  Forrest plays the role of Savior.  He loves her and would do anything for her.  And she leaves him.  Over and over and over again, she just walks away.  Why do we do that?  How broken must we be before we finally surrender to His perfect love, protection, guidance and provision?  So tragic!

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