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I could start with that oft quoted line from the movie, but I won't. I won't, because I don't have to. Just the mere mention of "Forrest Gump" instantly puts those words in your mouth and those images in your mind. This is the mark of a classic movie, in much the same way Gone With the Wind impacted our culture back in the 1930s.

"Forrest Gump" is the story of a simple man with an extraordinary life. Though his life is fascinating and the people he shares it with intriguing - it is the man himself who compels us to watch.

This is a remarkable feat considering that this tale does not fall within a typical movie formula.

In most stories, the protagonist - in this case Forrest - would have an "arc", meaning he would change from the person he was when the movie started to the person he is when it ends.

This is usually the point of any movie. You're given a protagonist, that protagonist is given a goal. An antagonist is presented to prevent the protagonist from reaching that goal. Whether he or she reaches it or not is pretty much irrelevant, as long as the protagonist changes in a significant way.

But in "Forrest Gump", he doesn't change. The people around him change. This makes Forrest a "catalyst". There is something about him that forces those around him to change, and I'd like to believe it was how consistent he was. Because he was always so good, so decent, and had such a clear cut idea of right and wrong, others around him were forced to deal with their own shortcomings and imperfections.

This is most notable in Jenny (played by Robin Wright Penn). Her story is one of implied abuse - an abuse so vile they dance around it without really telling us what it is. But this abuse was evidently something she would spend the next couple of decades alternately running from and punishing herself for.

Through it all, Forrest is there; loving her unconditionally, loving her when she doesn't even love herself. Eventually that love is her saving grace, very nearly before it's too late.

Same is true for Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinese). When he is wounded in the Veitnam war, he becomes an angry former shell of himself. It takes Forrest's unwavering faith to make Lt. Dan believe in himself again.

Tom Hanks turns in an Oscar winning performance as the lovable Forrest, someone whom we are lead to believe is not quite "normal". Through his devoted Mama (Sally Field), we come to accept that there's nothing at all wrong with him. While he may be naive, he isn't stupid.

And his life is rewarded with one amazing experience after another, from meeting the president to owning his own company. He runs across the country for three years, he gets shot and wounded in the war as he tries to save his entire platoon.

Robert Zemeckis earns his Oscar for direction as he paints us quite a picture as we see our own history through Forrest's eyes. We get a clear sense of each decade, and we are re-introduced to historical events with some of the most inventive film editing seen in modern film. It was all seamless; even when the story itself borders on the ridiculous.

That we stay with him through the journey is thanks in big part to Academy award winning scribe Eric Roth, who adapted his screenplay after the Winston Groom novel. He manages to walk the line - ever so delicately - between reality and fantasy. Was Forrest simply spinning a tale for his fellow bench mates? Or had he really done these incredible things?

Ultimately you will want to believe - want to believe that such a man could exist and could live such an exceptional life.

It's a modern fable that demonstrates goodness ultimately triumphs, love prevails and faith is rewarded.

A+

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