Guest blogger: Lacey 2

Forrest Gump is a great character driven movie, and one of my favorites. In the movie, a simple southern boy named Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) learns all about love, friends, and the importance of life. Forrest loved Jenny Curran (Robin Wright) from the moment he saw her when they were just children; they spent every waking moment together, and when they grew up and grew apart, Forrest wasn’t going to accept that. One day he decided to “just run” all over the world. He becomes very famous internationally and learns there are some things that just are. Certainly Tom Hanks, Sally Field (Mrs. Gump), and Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan) are the more top-list actors in this film, and all 3 of them do an outstanding job portraying their distinct characters. Hanks plays a “special” southern man who just wants to love and be loved in return, Field plays Mrs. Gump, a stubborn mother just trying to get by and keep her son safe, and Sinise plays jerk-ish Lt. Dan Taylor, Forrest’s army lieutenant who we come to love by the end of the film. Each character is important in Forrest Gump in the way that they’re all so vastly different and play a major part in Forrest’s life; they each almost represent a different stage that he goes through. I think a major theme in this movie is to appreciate life how you have it – don’t take anything for granted, love everyone with everything you have and go out of your way to help others. I love this movie and I could literally watch it over and over again because of the awesome character portrayal, relatable situations, and inspiring life lessons.