Good Will Hunting is a 1997 movie about a genius young man, too impulsive and violent for his own good, and a mentor-figure who will try to help him. The movie stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (who incidentally are also the writers) and Robin Williams.
There are different facets that could be explored throughout the movie, but this time I prefer to simply say “go and watch the damn movie”. Many of the dialogues are astoundingly well written and the fact that the protagonist is intelligent to an extent that should not be possible (given the fact that this detail is left almost unexplained) does not hinder the viewer’s immersion. Even the director’s choice of having so many close-ups, to the degree that some scenes are made entirely by half-faces talking to one another, complement the fast-paced replies of the characters.
Usually I would go further and analyze at least one or two themes that the movie presents, especially in this case the fear of knowing oneself and what this implies within the confrontation with others and also the fact of what really being truthful to oneself entails, but I will refrain for now. Instead, I would like to merely quote Robin Williams’ speech (which I will also link down bellow):
“But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You’re a tough kid. I ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? “Once more into the breach, dear friends.” But you’ve never been near one… You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I ask about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet; but you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on Earth just for you, who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be her angel…to have that love for her be there forever. Through anything. Through cancer. And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sitting up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms “visiting hours” don’t apply to you. You don’t know about real loos, ‘cause that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you, I don’t see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared shitless kid.”
I will leave this here and let you decide for once what to make of it. What I will say for myself however is that personal truths may be achieved through a personal perspective that is destructively honest; if they do not provide a sense of uneasiness, then probably they are not very true.
I would give this movie a good 7 and a half out of 10 “your move chief”.
Link to the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRG2jlQWCsY