Film Review – Conrad – 27/3/98
This thought provoking, funny and poignant movie is driven by an insightful screenplay which has already
won a 1998 Golden Globe Award, and was written by two relative new comers, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also play the lead character and his best friend respectively. The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards and Robin Williams deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as Professor/Therapist Sean Mcguire.
Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has a working-class upbringing and, when he’s not working as the janitor at a prestigious Technical Institute, spends much of his time driving around with his friends in pursuit of girls and getting into fights. He is impulsive, arrogant and fed by an anger rooted in childhood abuse, but is also naturally extremely intelligent which he proves by casually solving advanced mathematical problems left on the board at the Institute.
Unfortunately one of his fights leads to a conviction and a jail sentence unless he can be rehabilitated, and he is released under the guidance of one of the Institute professors who recognises his rare genius, on the condition that he has psychiatric treatment. There follow some of the movies funniest moments as Will uses his various talents to see off a series of therapists, until he meets his match in Sean McGuire (Robin Williams) and it is the relationship that develops between these two that brings much needed progression to both of their lives.
One of the themes is the question of what intelligence is, and the difference between learned knowledge and true understanding. Will takes his gift for granted – he is able to remember vast amounts of information with his photographic memory and has no difficulty solving mathematical problems that challenge some of the brightest mathematicians in the world – yet he couldn’t care less about his intellectual abilities and potential, and prefers the company of his friends with whom he shares a loyalty and security that he never experienced in his childhood.
It takes McGuire to show him that for all his regurgitation of information he’s read in books, he has very little knowledge or understanding of himself, and in challenging Will to examine his humanity McGuire is forced also to examine his own.
Will also has to consider, for the first time in his life, his priorities – what does he really want to do, and how can he sustain love in his relationships. This is dealt with mainly through his relationship with Skylar, a college student played by Minnie Driver (Circle of Friends) who is effervescent and confident, and not afraid to challenge Will to see beyond his self-imposed limitations.
With themes that reach deeper than the obvious, to cover the universality of being and our striving to have purpose in our lives, this movie is an entertaining and compelling drama with plenty of soul.
Visit the
Good Will Hunting Web site.
