The Pursuit of Happiness: Living on the edge and Rising from the dust
Cinema has reached in to the weird territories also but still human emotions can not be taken away from the cinema and still films are made and will be made which basically cover human life and human emotions in quite ordinary sense as they are meant to be.
We, the human, laugh and cry along with the characters shown in the cinema and that is the success of such humane stories and cinema. Cinema which covers the lives of human beings touches a chord with the audiences and if cinematic effort is sincere then it penetrates audiences deeply and makes a place in their heart.
The Pursuit of Happiness is also such a film which shows us human emotions and life of struggling ordinary human being, whose life is at the verge of destruction.
This man is living on the threshold limits and all his efforts to re-arrange the scattered pieces of his life are going in to vain and he is always left surrounded by despondencies and helplessness.
He wants to do his job dutifully, he wishes to keep intact his family, he wishes to keep happy his wife and son but nothing is working in his favour and he is not able to earn enough to support his family. His wife is unable to live a struggling life with him and leaves him and their only son.
He loves his son very much and inspite of knowing his present days hard struggling phase of life, he prefers to keep his son with him. He has to take care of his son on his own now. He is getting failure from all sides and things are breaking him inside but he has to try to get success in life.
There are many occasions when he feels that now this is the limit and he will not be able to make it but he does try to keep his nose above the water.
Loose translation of two poems may match with the premise of the film.
Sometimes I find it impossible to touch you,
I am tired by waiting for you,
Sound of Postman’s footsteps
increase my heart beats
Perhaps today…..,
But No!
He goes ahead
leaving me behind disappointed.
I want to deviate my mind from you
I wish to make Karmanyevadhikarste….. as my mantra
I try to make me understand,
But don’t know, how and when,
Desire to get you, come and stand before me,
I don’t see any path without you
I wake up suddenly from the sleep,
If I don’t get you?
This mere thought sends me in to anxiety,
Do I have to live like this only?
I start cursing the fate
But after sometime I become tired and
Accept the realities.
I do see dreams sometimes,
How I will arrange my life.
After getting you,
I will do hard work so that
I can avail your presence with me,
If I get you all of a sudden?
Ohhh…
Happiness fills inside me by thinking about this possibility.
But you are so callous and remain away from me
I want to make it sure
that I do efforts only to get you,
But life has got so many other works, responsibilities and hindrances also.
Why you have turned your face away from me?
If I hold once your hand,
I believe that afterwards
I will be going ahead and ahead.
Continuous failures break something inside
How long I can save the necklace of hope
I know I am compelled to wait for you
O Success!
When I will be able to hold you?
I yearn for you.
The Legend of Bagger Vance , this film and Ali strongly suggest that Will Smith is not only capable to regular action films like Bad Boys, Men in Black but he has a sensitive side in his actor also.
This is entirely his film supported very ably by his own son. Just few scenes are sufficient to prove his capabilities as an actor.
He gets failure at every step but the desire to keep his son happy, moves him on.
His house is taken from him and sealed in his absence by the owner. His son is tired and wants to do rest in his cosy bed but he, the father, is unable to open the door of his rented house because he has not been able to pay the rent. He is helpless and scolds his son when he insists on entering inside.
He goes to a community centre but is informed that the place is for women and children only and while his son can stay but he can’t. He says he will stay with his son only and goes to another community living place but there he finds that a huge queue of people is already present and people are waiting for their chance to get shelter for a night.
A drunken man try to go before him when its declared that only 4 places are available. If that man goes ahead then our man loses his chances and he fights for this. He fights for his son’s comfort.
A man can bear any kind of situation but its quite difficult for a person to see or think about the pains of his beloved ones. There everybody becomes helpless. To bear own pain is just the matter of acceptance of the reality but to do same in case of their beloved ones require heart of mild steel.
Its not every body’s cup of tea. Love makes people weak in this area. And in case of own children, its a more severe case. Leave alone human being, even most simple and non-violent kind of animals are seen attacking if somebody tries to attack their children.
In another scene when he does not get any shelter in the evening, he goes to a public Toilet at a station and closes the door from inside and his son sleeps in his lap. Somebody knocks the door and WS becomes conscious. He is fearful, anxious, helpless but at the same time daring also. He has no intention to open the door. He keeps his hands on his sleeping his son as if to save him from rest of the world and tears of helplessness role down his cheeks.
His luck is also playing hide and seek with him. When he is saving every single penny to arrange a place in the evening to stay somewhere. He is met with his would be boss on the road and his boss asks him to lend him 5 Dollars so that he could pay the money to Taxi driver. WS can not spare this little amount which has a big value for him now a days but he has to depart this money and he does so reluctantly. His boss does not know his tight situation.
In the pre-climax scene when he is left with no hope of getting the job, he is called inside the Boss’s room and his would be boss comments that he is wearing a nice shirt and he replies that because its his last day here so he thought to wear new and nice clothes.
Boss says with a smile,” Perhaps, but we are meeting tomorrow morning, if you say yes to join our Company”.
This was not thought before by WS and he is unable to stop his emotions and wants to cry loudly and at same time he does not want to exhibit his tears to these gentlemen and in this conflict he manages to smile after a hard effort and with tearful eyes he nods his head to accept the proposal and says, “Thanks”.
Just when he is about to leave, his new boss gives him back the 5 Dollar note he had borrowed other day.
There are moments in the life when desperation seizes us from all sides. Nothing seems to work but if we have to live and we are confident on living and we are not suicidal then two things happen.
One, person does not go towards crime because that is another side to commit suicide.
Second, something or other helpful thing happen and person goes on a new path.
Every now and then
I become disturbed
Watching all my shortcomings.
Deterioration increases in such moments
Confidence loses its strength.
It seems
I am plunged so deeply somewhere
from where my voice does not come out.
Under anxiety,
Heart beats increase their rate
Breathing become vague and erratic
And ears start feeling heat
Whenever I am seized by helpless and hopeless feelings
From all sides,
I feel the burden of a big and heavy stone on my chest.
Determination start decaying,
All beads of patience, concentration, confidence and positive attitude,
start falling from the thread of life,
but
before I lose everything
and fall down completely
don’t know from where
a feeling comes to make me alive,
to make me realise that,
Air is flowing since ages,
Sun is spreading its light continuously since millions of years,
Flowers are spreading their fragrances,
though they have to wither away in short time,
Moon can fill poetry in the life with its loving coldness,
Stars allure with their shining,
Then I am a man
Perhaps the best creation among all the creatures in the world,
Why I should not participate in the creation
By living a creative life?
WS’s life faces many such situation where a man can go on wrong sides and can fall in to crimes but he keeps his senses under control and fights hard to survive.
The Pursuit of Happiness shows that hopeful face of life to us. Its based on the real life story of Chris Gardner .
Movies, Thoughts, World Cinema , Ali, Bad Boys, Chris Gardner, Men in Black, thandie newton, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Will Smith
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23 Responses to “The Pursuit of Happiness: Living on the edge and Rising from the dust”
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A priceless movie. Caught the movie again recently and it still moved me as it had moved me the first time as well.
one of my favourite movies……what makes it more special that it was based on a real life ragz to riches story..
the climax scene which u describe above RK is one of the best cinematic moments for me…..eyes get moist at that point and to quote from many bollywood movies ” yeh toh khushi ke aansu hai”…..
it had some fabulous dialogues..
like the scene where will smith goes to the internship interview right from jail in his rugged outift..
in the end of the interview ..
Interviewee: “what would you say if i hired a guy who comes to he interview in a shirt like yours.”
Will Smith: I’d say that he must be wearing very good pants”
..
the interview scene infact has many witty answers which can be used in real life as well…….
RK, this is an unusual release from mainstream Hollywood, perhaps Will Smith’s draw at the B.O made this a safe release.
There was a time when such movies were regularly churned out from Mumbai and Madras( remember watching such stuff on D.D). Times have changed, this is the era of a new India, the feel good factor alone ensures that such movies will never get made here ever again. This must have made great viewing for the well fed audiences in USA, a lot of viewers here in india would steer clear of such ‘filled with reality stuff’.
the toilet scene is my all time favourite and i became a Will Smith fan after that job offering scene.. full credit to the director for an excellent execution of a master script.. i love the way in which Smith narrates portion of his life.. remember “this part of my life is RUNNING”..
one correction– the wife do not leaves the child but the man doesnot let her take him(child)
The best thing to have happened about this movie is that they didn’t take the drama which is so abundant in this movie too seriously and reined enough to not let it slip into melodrama. There was no conscious “look-at-my-state” kind of wallowing. Even when the prospective boss breaks the news there is no jarring BGM, and that’s where it scores (no pun). and Arun, your note on his pull at B.O and the movie still being in the safety net is not without merit.
Brilliant write-up RK, just like the movie. heartfelt!
will smith teams up with gabriel muccino ..the director of the above movie again for a movie called SEVEN POUNDS due in december
fingers crossed……
RK - a small note. It’s ‘The Pursuit of HappYness’!!
it was a remarkable performance by will smith. throughout the wholoe film, i got the impression of a man on edge, who would break down and cry or rail at the world any second, and he held it all in, just long enough to taste success. a simple story well told. they entirely skirted the race issue which may or may not be a good thing. i attended a talk by chris gardner, and he is truly a fabulous guy and very inspirational.
@RK
I fully relate to ur analysis of the film..A truly endearing and inspiring film..Infact i had started blogging on PFC last year with a post dealing with Mahesh Bhatt’s Kaash and The Pursuit Of HappYness titled Kaash!The Pursuit Of HappYness.
Small Personal Anecdote : Had highly recommended the film to my boss. He came back next day extremely agitated that I should have warned him … Seeing my puzzled expression , he said that his wife who was about 7 months pregnant at that point of time had cried the whole night after seeing the movie !!!
This movie just took Will Smith to a completely different level (very very close to Denzel :-))
@Sudhir,
True,
Movie has repeat value and quite an inspirational movie on several levels including technical areas of filmmaking.
Film has obvious merits in many areas.
@Ashwin,
Not only witty Interview scene, film has got many extraordinary scenes and the sequence of the events is very good. The sequence of scene just before an important scene and scene after that important scene, makes it a very coherent and interesting watch.
For this factor, a separate post is required where direction, screenplay and other technical areas are discussed.
@Arun,
Director is from Italy. That may be the reason behind the different treatment of the film.
Inspirational films comes out of Hollywood time to time.
or we can say every 5-6 years a good film comes. Certain directors there have habit to pick up good books and they get support of good screen play writers.
Books adaptation in Hindi cinema has lost the attraction and this trend where writer and director is same person can not bring out always good films because single person’s vision lacks something and to make big and good film, involvement of few good minds is necessary.
Single mind thinks in monotonous terms and everything looks great in his mind. Its like people preparing alone for IAS like exams. They think they are doing great but realities can be different. For some people this works but not always.
A person can write a very good thesis but after sometimes his eyes become blind to his text and he can not edit or proof read his own writings and a different and alert mind is needed at that time.
Everybody can not be good in all the areas. Many talented people are there in Hindi cinema but they have bigger responsibilities of handling everything and this thing is bigger than their own capacity and result is films are good in pieces. Direction is good at some portions. Story looks good at places and at some places even an ordinary audience can not be agree with the narration. If other things are fine then continuity is the hindrance.
Film is not single person’s creation and this is like production of product and hence it requires a quality control and that requires different people having skill in different areas.
@golghose,
A mother has a direct relation with the child because she passes through the physical birth process. A father has a idea or thought based relation with the child. He does not pass through the same relation as mother of the child goes through. Leaving apart DNA connection, But if a father is absent during the pregnancy days of his wife and he comes after the delivery then he has to develop a relation with the child while mother, after knowing about her pregnancy, lives 24 hours with her child.
With no circumstances she can leave her child.
Thandie N’s husband WS is not torturing her. Its his financial problems which pushes TN to leave him. First she goes with her son but WS calls her to tell her that he will pick him up next day from the school.
On the night when he has to live in Prison he calls TN to convince her to pick their son and convinces her that she will drop him next day in evening at the home.
There at home she tells him that she is going to New York because her BIL has opened a restaurant there.
She is working in a laundary. She is not ready to believe to WS. She ridicules when he tells him that he has been chosen for an Internship programme. From Salesman to Intern!!
She is leaving him. She says she does not care what he thinks.
He says that she knows she can not take care of their son. and she leaves their son.
She could have stayed. She was working. But she chose to run away from the difficulties. Excuse may be any but fact is she leaves her husband and son when her husband is passing through the difficulty.
You may recall the scene when WS’s son asks,” Mom left because of me?”
and WS replies,” Dont even think this. Mom left because of Mom”.
May be a direct dialogue is not there but events are obvious enough to suggest that She leaves her husband and son.
This is different thing to say that WS keeps his son with him. He wishes to keep his wife also but she does not select this path.
Thats why for me she is the one, who leaves.
@Santosh,
BGM is really good and very supportive of the narration style of the film. Film has a pace and nice blend of different emotions.
This is victory of director that audience like the most artificial scene in the film at Railway station where WS tries to occupy the mind of his son by pushing him to imazine animals around them.
Thanks for your kind comment.
@Tejas,
Ya true,
right title of the film is “the PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS”.
Happyness and Happiness scene is almost in the begining of the film and this reference comes again two times more in the film.
Mine “Happiness” is deliberate to produce opposite of those scenes. Hoped that someone will point this out and gladly, you paid enough attention to the act.
Thanks
@Dabba,
Cant say they entirely skirted the race isssue. Their social condition is obvious by few characters around WS’s character. This issue has not been shown as prototype as this is more like reader Dijest kind of motivational story where struggles in life are shown and these struggles can happen in anybody’s life irrespective of race and nation.
and this is also true that all can not be racist in a nation and there are always good and bad and partial and impartial people.
One meets both kind of people in same country.
Film is not prototype and this is a beauty of the film.
@Krysh,
I remember Mahesh Bhatt’s Kaash. Had seen this film on TV. Father son relation was there also.
Child’s sickness bring Jacky and Dimple close again.
Remember many scenes.
Never forgot one Dimple’s scene where Manipulative Anupam Kher tries to deviate Dimple’s mind again and she yells,” Kutta”.
Hindi film dwells on manipulations of Anupam Kher also and drama factor is also there.
@Prasun,
Denzel in which film? or Overall?
superb movie in all aspects. The never say die attitude. In case of Chris it was a turning point when he thought that how all the people from the office come out being happy and why he cannot be happy. The last scene where he is a part of “that” crowd, was quite emotional for me. Then came the father-son relationship…it was WOW !! The script and direction take full marks for this movie.
@Kcp.
Last crowd scene also shows the technical competency of the director. True, script and direction are of top quality.
Another fantastic movie of Will Smith is “Enemy Of The State”. What a thriller ! Any reviews/discussion on it( Dabba ? I know that you like thrillers and your choices have matched mine when I go through arvhives of PFC ) Will Smith’s acting is top notch. golhosh, WS was always a fantastic actor. His comedy roles also I like a lot. His dance skills are superb ( as seen in films like Hitch, etc )