When you have a brilliant young man that conceals his anger towards himself and the world as the basis for a film plot, what can go wrong? This unlikely Boston street-tough, Will Hunting, reflects how so many of us are when it comes to our emotions: hesitant to show them. Very few people in today’s world can look at their life and be 100 percent content with their experiences. How often do we hear about peole’s regrets and agony over what they could’ve done differently or the flaws we have with our own self image or even self worth? In many ways, there’s a Will Hunting in all of us, both intellectually and emotionally.
Will never knew what it was like to truly be wanted by someone. Sure, he has his group of buddies that he bar hops with, but never any connection that rendered his spirit to blossom into any real unearthly emotion. His parents put him up for adoption at an early age, dealing with abusive foster parents on his grueling journey through foster care system. He doesn’t date much because he is insecure of his past and upbringing. He detaches himself with nearly every person he meets in fear they will simply pass him off as a nutcase. What comforts will in these times are the books that inhabit his run-down home. Edgar Allen Poe, Oliver Twist and Robert Frost are just few of the names he turns to for comfort. How Will feels, they express in their writings. But even then, words can’t replace human touch. After Will angers his new therapist Sean with remarks about his deceased wife, Sean takes him to the park the next day for a discussion. It’s there where Will begins to feel a slight sense of attachment. Sean gives a beautiful soliloquy on how experience will far outweigh any textbook you will ever read. Sean goes on to state:
“If I asked you 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. Feelin’ 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 sleepin’ sittin’ 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.”
Will’s life begins to change, as he begins unmask his hard exterior, and show genuine emotion.
After embarrassing a Harvard hack with intellect at a bar, Will meets a Harvard girl named Skyler who shows interest in Will. While hesitant to get to know her at first, Will begins to date her, and for the first time knows what it’s like to have worth to a woman. She truly cares about him, doesn’t care about where he came from or his financial standing. Will becomes irate after she says she loves him, for she doesn’t truly know him. In reality, while is trying to abandon her before she abandons him when she’s off at Stanford Medical School.
Things become less than pleasant after she leaves. Will angers Sean again after seeing Will not mature at all, declining several job offers that could greatly improve Will’s life. But in the final tear-jerking scene of the film, Sean tells Will over and over again that his agonizing past is not his fault. Will breaks down in tears as he leans on Sean’s shoulder, finally allowing himself to be vulnerable. From here, Will embarks on a road trip to California, to be with Skyler on his pursuit of happiness.
How do we all connect to this movie? For one, our intellect provides us with some security when all else fails. When you are knowledgeable on a subject that others are not, they are fascinated by you. They desire to be around you to learn more from you. Will’s intellect was the only thing he felt secure about. No on excluding Sean could match him, but it didn’t bring him happiness.I was only a shield from the rest of the world. An excuse to not become close with others.
As mentioned earlier, people often are hesitant to show their emotions. They don’t want to feel vulnerable because then they feel embarrassed. Why does it have to be this way? Why are we afraid of the unforeseen? Why do we limit ourselves in a comfort zone that can be expanded yet we allow it to remain stagnant in fear that people leaner more about us than we’re willing to give on? Life only lasts a short time. Why deprive yourself of something you deserve? Everyone deserves happiness. Everyone deserves to be looked in the eye and told how much they mean to someone else. Everyone deserves a soulmate that they can go through life with and never have to fear being alone. But no one can get to know you if you don’t open yourself up. Never again should this be the case. When it’s all said and done, no amount of money, drugs, or materials can fill the void we all long for as human beings.
After all, the greatest drug that exist for a human is another human being.
Aron's Movies 