The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness, inspired by true events in the life of Chris Gardner, is a perfect movie to show around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. This is a story of a man against whom all the world seems to conspire (and indeed, it seems very little was out of his power to avoid), but he is no victim. Chris is not a whiner, a quitter, a defeatist, or even unrealistically ambitious. He knows his strengths, he knows what’s truly important, and, armed with those two things, sets off on an impossible journey.
His graciousness and humility balance tidily against his steely resolve and his dogged determination. When things able to sink no lower, then they do. He is honor bound to his quest to survive. This film is a moving portrait of the working poor, the forgotten demographic so casually tossed aside by rich fatcats who want to eliminate social services. Had this man gone on welfare or received food stamps or any aid not provided by a church soup kitchen, no one could accuse him of laziness or abusing the system. It’s worth noting that the rise of Reaganomics’ “trickle-down” theory was concurrent with these unfathomable challenges. It is bitterly notable too that the job he wants is to manage the money of the extremely solvent.
I personally am constantly in a delicate struggle for financial solidity and resources, but I have never felt so guilty for complaining about having only $40 in my checking account for the last 2 weeks of the month. For the record, it’s my own guilt; the movie does not condemn the comfortable or the wealthy. Chris has no resentment for the haves. I mentioned his graciousness before. He is not playing the part of Stepin Fetchit to gain access to unearned loot, nor is he in denial about his plight. His struggle is private, it’s his own, and he gives every cell in his body to overcome it.
Will Smith does a fantastic job, his movie star cockiness vanishing into a genteel and trustworthy warmth. His son is played by his real life son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, and their chemistry is vital to the movie. Jaden, 5, has little to do as an actor or a character than react to the situations Chris’ life puts them in, but you can see good parenting and training is on both sides of the screen. The son is gracious like his father, even in terrible circumstances. Thandie Newton plays another understandably unsympathetic character in this film, as Chris’ wife. I hope someone gives her the chance to break away from that type, but she is well suited for the role here.
Happyness, you will have noted, is misspelled in the title. It’s relevant to the story, but to me it symbolized that there is no perfect happiness, you can have flaws in it but still have the meaning. The word pops up in the Declaration of Independence more than once, the pursuit thereof being an inalienable right of all people, and a core foundation of the American dream. For some, happiness is more money than they can spend. For others, their family, security, and a job well-earned and well-done is the goal. The pursuit is the right we must not squander. Smith gives of himself in this role in a way you might not have seen before, but most importantly, we feel what is truly important to Chris.
Our life is controlled partially by our choices and partially by fate. Chris Gardner shows us the power of will over that balance. You may come out rebuking yourself for your laziness or your choices or your fatalism or your fears, but you will come out glad you saw this movie.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 12/15/06
Time in minutes 117
Director Gabriele Muccino
Studio Columbia
