Forrest Gump Film Review

Its 1981, Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q but good intentions he sits at a bus stop and sees a feather fall from the sky, this makes him begin to tell his life story to anyone who walks by, he tells them how he ran through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. From leg braces; teaching Elvis how to dance; falling in love; fighting in the Vietnam war; owning a shrimp company and starting a ping pong craze this isn't even half of the story of Forrest Gump!

Tom Hanks ability to be able to take on a part the way he does is amazing and Forrest Gump is a brilliant example of this, in this Academy award winning film Hanks takes on the role of Forrest Gump as though he has played him for years on end. He is able to clearly portray all the emotions the character is feeling and he does this effortlessly. The film also features other big actors such as Sally Fields and Gary Sinise.

Don Burgess was the cinematographer for Forrest Gump he is very clever with his ability to manipulate an audience through the use of cinematography. The film features several close ups of Hanks, he used this techniques because as an audience you feel closer to the character as you can see his emotions clearly and you relate to him by feeling sympathetic towards the bad things that have happened to him. Burgess' use of high angle shots make it clear that Hanks' character is very vulnerable and this ensures as an audience member we feel empathy towards him. 

The Forrest Gump sound track include classic songs from artists such as Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys and Simon and Garfunkel all the artists are American for a reason, Alan Silvestri who picked the music thought that Hanks' character would not listen to any song by anyone other than an American hence an all American sound track. The most significant song in the film is Elivis' 'Hound Dog' as this tells a very comical part of the story when Hanks' character is teaching Elvis how to dance.

A variety of visual effects were used to incorporate Hanks into archive footage with various historical figures and events. The scenes would have been edited several times to get the perfect cut, voice doubles were hired to imitate the voices of dead historical figures such as John Lennon and J F Kennedy, they would then have to use special effects to alter the lip syncing. The Vietnam war scene also features special effects as the actors and the explosions were filmed separately and the actors were then digitally added into the scene.

Rating:*****