I've decided to switch up the style of my movie reviews, for the time being at least. I honestly thought my review of Braveheart was a bit on the boring side and that's not exactly what I'm aiming for with these reviews. For this review on Forrest Gump, I'm thinking of just talking about the most important aspects of the movie as a whole, rather than individual scenes. The main subjects I will focus on are symbolism, color techniques and special effects. Overall, the movie was AMAZING. Tom Hanks is a phenomenal actor and the plot of the movie is extremely relatable and moved me to tears.
The two most significant symbols in the movie, as far as I could see, where a pair of shoes and a feather. As the opening credits appear on the screen, the camera is shown following a white feather as it drifts down from the sky and lands next to Forrest's shoe. He then bends down to pick up the feather and saves it in a Curious George book. This same feather is shown in the end scene of the movie when Forrest is watching his son, Forrest Jr., get on the bus for his first day of school. The feather is resting against Forrest's shoe once again and then shown blowing away on the breeze. The significance of this feather is kind of what the whole movie is about, fate and destiny. The feather could have landed anywhere, but it landed on Forrest's shoe randomly, just as your destiny is handed to you randomly. Another significant symbol in the movie are Forrest's shoes. Similar to the feather, Forrest's shoes represent his destiny and his believe that he can achieve greatness. Everyone can fulfill their dreams as long as they believe in them. For Forrest, his shoes gave him confidence that he would be lead in the right direction his entire life.
The entire movie stretches the length of Forrest's adult life and therefore goes through many different styles of clothes and significant time periods in history. The costume designer and set designer of the movie manage to capture the fashion style and whole essence of each decade the movie progresses through. The color palette used in each scene as Forrest grows up perfectly illustrates that decade and the types of clothing that were worn at that time. In addition, the color of the clothing worn always seems to correlate with the current weather, coincidence or not, it added to the mood of the movie.
Special effects are used most noticeably used when Forrest is shown in old, famous television footage whether he was shaking JFK's hand for receiving the medal of honor or seeing Nixon in the Watergate Hotel before his scandal was exposed. The makers of the movie found a way to manipulate Forrest's face into the footage and this effect added to the authenticity of the movie. Another special effect used was while Forrest was in the Vietnam War and body parts were shown blown off of soldiers' body's, as well as Forrest's general shown laying in a hospital bed with no legs. The effects were handled very skillfully and appeared as a realistic war scene.
The two most significant symbols in the movie, as far as I could see, where a pair of shoes and a feather. As the opening credits appear on the screen, the camera is shown following a white feather as it drifts down from the sky and lands next to Forrest's shoe. He then bends down to pick up the feather and saves it in a Curious George book. This same feather is shown in the end scene of the movie when Forrest is watching his son, Forrest Jr., get on the bus for his first day of school. The feather is resting against Forrest's shoe once again and then shown blowing away on the breeze. The significance of this feather is kind of what the whole movie is about, fate and destiny. The feather could have landed anywhere, but it landed on Forrest's shoe randomly, just as your destiny is handed to you randomly. Another significant symbol in the movie are Forrest's shoes. Similar to the feather, Forrest's shoes represent his destiny and his believe that he can achieve greatness. Everyone can fulfill their dreams as long as they believe in them. For Forrest, his shoes gave him confidence that he would be lead in the right direction his entire life.
The entire movie stretches the length of Forrest's adult life and therefore goes through many different styles of clothes and significant time periods in history. The costume designer and set designer of the movie manage to capture the fashion style and whole essence of each decade the movie progresses through. The color palette used in each scene as Forrest grows up perfectly illustrates that decade and the types of clothing that were worn at that time. In addition, the color of the clothing worn always seems to correlate with the current weather, coincidence or not, it added to the mood of the movie.
Special effects are used most noticeably used when Forrest is shown in old, famous television footage whether he was shaking JFK's hand for receiving the medal of honor or seeing Nixon in the Watergate Hotel before his scandal was exposed. The makers of the movie found a way to manipulate Forrest's face into the footage and this effect added to the authenticity of the movie. Another special effect used was while Forrest was in the Vietnam War and body parts were shown blown off of soldiers' body's, as well as Forrest's general shown laying in a hospital bed with no legs. The effects were handled very skillfully and appeared as a realistic war scene.
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