Monday, January 15, 2007

Movie review - The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a difficult film for me to review because while I genuinely enjoyed it in the cinema, my curiousity about the story upon which it was *inspired* made me dig around about it and makes me think a bit more about film's manipulation of facts to manipulate the audience.

Set in San Francisco in 1981, the film stars Will Smith as Chris Gardner, Smith's own son Jaden plays Chris' 5 yo son, Christopher. Due to not knowing his own father until the age of 28, Chris swears that his son will have a good relationship with him, but this is put to the test when he comes into financial difficulty after investing in portable bone density scanners that he later finds are considered a luxury by medical people/establishments and therefore difficult to sell. After meeting a stockbroker, he applies for and is accepted into the traineeship programme at Dean Whitter Reynolds (now known as Morgan Stanley), but this makes things even more difficult when his wife abandons the family to move to NYC and he discovers the internship is unpaid. While periodically selling a scanner to make money,
a variety of events result in Chris and Christopher becoming destitute and the pair end up homeless - sleeping in the toilets of a subway station for a night and eventually ending up in homeless shelters. The movie shows Chris struggling to do his work while being a good father to Christopher at the same time, leaving work early to pick up his son from daycare in order to make it to the shelter which works on a first come, first served basis. Eventually the story ends up nicely when Chris' perseverence pays off and he is accepted into Dean Whitter as a permanent employee.

First the bits that work - the acting and writing are great. The trials that Chris goes through, his jubilation and despair at the breakthroughs that turn out to be setbacks and his overwhelming concern for his son is totally convincing and absolutely sucks you in. This is no doubt aided by the fact that Smith is acting with his son - their interactions are naturally convincing and well done. A particular standout the scene where they end up in the subway station. Christopher having thrown a tantrum
after they were evicted from a motel, is refusing to speak to his father and you can see the stubborness in his little self as they sit on a subway bench. Chris meanwhile is frustrated at his inability to be able to explain what is going on, does the real fatherly thing in convincing his son he should treat the entire thing as a caveman adventure. It's really great.

But the bad things - there are times when the treacle is laid on REALLY thick, and given that Chris states that he arrives at work late and leaves early for the sake of Christopher, the fact that he gets accepted into the company because he made the most sells due to his awesome people skills seems a little far-fetched. While I knew that I was being manipulated with regards to the story, this didn't bother during the film. What does bother me is the extent of the liberties taken when I looked it up later. While the pair really did end up in homeless shelters, key parts in hindsight which bother me are when Chris finds out the traineeship is unpaid - in reality he was getting $1000/month (ok, not enough for rent/food etc but still not as destitute as made out), and when a homeless shelter for women and children turn the pair away despite Chris' pleading and instructs them to a male shelter across town. In reality, the shelter actually let them stay. The wiki entry on the story of the real Chris Gardner is here.

In all though the movie is ok and even if liberties were taken, it is a good story made more incedible by the knowledge that it is essentially based on a true story.
6.5/10

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