Good Will Hunting

Ah, this film so relates to me. Not that I was / am a genius of course, but that I was a good kid that got mixed up in a bad world and I missed out on so many opportunities because of my behaviour. This is roughly what this film is about.

Will is essentially a tearaway. An orphaned kid that grew up in a foster home faced with horrendous abuse. His foster father used to beat him up with a wrench and stub his cigarettes out on him. It's safe to say that Will had a lot to deal with growing up, and as a result has held it close to his chest.

This made him a tearaway, a kid that got into fights and was always in and out of the justice system. His lot wasn't a good one growing up. But you see, will is a damn genius, and the cleverest mind that the mathematics department at Harvard has ever seen.

They want him, and they want him badly.

You see, they found out about will because he got himself a cleaning job as a Janitor where he would go around the halls of Harvard and wipe up the kids mucky feet and anything they dropped. But he couldn't resist solving the big math equation on the maths department's chalk board outside the classroom.

Unknown to Will it was the big prize equation that whoever solved it would find themselves as a mini celebrity. Even the teacher didn't expect anyone to really solve it, not until the end of the semester anyway, if anyone was to.

So of course that had everyone excited and raving about who solved the equation, and in record time too. But no-one came forward, and it remained a mystery as to who put the answer up on the board.

That's when as coming out of their classroom they find Will (played by Matt Damon) writing the solution on the blackboard. Of course he's a janitor so they immediately assume that he's defacing the board and try and get him, however they are shocked that he has solved the next puzzle that took two years to solve. He wasn't defacing the board, he was actually solving the equation.

And thus Gerald (The Professor, played by Stellan Skarsgård) goes on a mission to find Will. He cannot and will not let this mind escape him. He's wasted as a Janitor.

That's when Gerald finds about Wills past. That he is actually serving his parole as the Janitor and that he isn't anything like what he imagined. Will is rough around the edges at best!

Obviously Gerald does not think that this should limit Will, so he asks a judge to be remanded in his custody. In doing so he has to see a psychologist every week whilst he is in their care.

And this is what most of the film is about. Will coming to terms with his past and allowing himself to open up to himself. He just wont let anyone in. Or anyone close. And it's hindering his ability to achieve anything in life and we can see this play out in the film.

So Will gets himself a psychologist, who he finally ends up sticking with Sean McGuire (Robin Williams) who is the only therapist that will continue to see him.

It's such a lovely film. Made for all the lost souls that feel they haven't achieved what they wanted in life. Would recommend it to anyone.

Posted using CineTV