Movie Notes: The Pursuit of Happyness

December 31st, 2006

The Pursuit of Happyness: North Beach Pizza.

= 5 stars

Starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton
Directed by Gabriele Muccino

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Movies Admittedly I haven’t seen too many movies in the theater this year, but this is the best film I saw in 2006. This is the type of movie where I forgot I was in a theater, as I was so caught up with the story, the characters, and how it will all work out. The film is engrossing despite a minimalist approach: Will Smith and his son, 90% of the time. It’s a testament to true acting skill that Smith not only carries this movie, but does it while running with big metal boxes.

The Pursuit of Happyness follows Chris Gardner (Will Smith), down on his luck and with terrible economic odds stacked against him. He struggles to support an unsupportive wife (Thandie Newton) and a young son (Jaden Smith) but can’t seem to get ahead. He stupidly squandered their life’s savings on a pile of bone density machines that he tries, mostly without success, to doctors and hospitals. If he doesn’t sell one, he doesn’t get paid. The economic difficulty is palpable, and the burden he bears is explicitly represented by the heavy medical machines he totes around the streets of San Francisco circa 1981.

An opportunity arises in the form of an unpaid internship at the financial firm Dean Witter, which after six months, might lead to a stockbroker position. Chris sees this as his ticket out and up, but the economic pressures of unpaid bills, back rent, and taxes weigh on him, to the point where he almost turns it down. However, when he decides to take the chance, things continue to fall apart. His wife leaves him, he’s kicked out of his apartment, and his bank account falls prey to the IRS.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

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That’s the basic gist, and anyone who’s felt the pressure of mounting debts, bills, and living paycheck to paycheck knows the stress wearing Chris down. It’s horrifying to see it play out, but there is a strange comfort in how Chris and his son support each other when things are at their worst. The struggle of a father trying to hide the dire situation from his young son is deftly communicated in silence as Smith furrows his brow or nervously tugs at his pants while sitting down.

But the film doesn’t stop there. Another item of note is the cautious way it shows the disparity between rich and poor, namely the wealthy, old executives at the Dean Witter and Pacific Bell that Chris schmoozes with. These relatively rich, isolated people are also undeniably white. About halfway through the film, I realized that Chris is basically a slave: not an explicit one with sharecroppers and chains, but a victim of economic slavery. In that sense, this movie is the book Nickle and Dimed come to life, the story of how when you’re born into the middle class, you must work to succeed, but someone who’s poor has to work four times and hard and succeed four times over just to break even.

And as a layer above all of this, is the question of what it truly means to be happy. It’s said one can’t truly know the value of something unless you’ve experienced its loss. In that sense, the movie makes the point that everyone who has a steady, 9 to 5 job and dreams of the “good life” should realize that in comparison to a large portion of the world’s population - they already are. And when that is realized, the fact that many successful Americans still claim to feel unhappy - despite being surrounded by material possessions, shelter, and food - demonstrates our ignorance and ungratefulness regarding the less well off. Ultimately, perhaps what truly makes a person happy is the pursuit - not the actual achievement.

In this sense, The Pursuit of Happyness has similarities to It’s A Wonderful Life - but the danger of financial ruin is more palpable, as Chris is pretty much broke through the entire film, while George Bailey only faces it for a relatively brief moment. Plus, the fact that The Pursuit of Happyness is based on a true story gives it an undeniable edge.

This is powerful, heavy, memorable stuff, especially coming from a film where you basically have one actor, a kid, and a BART station, and not much else. There are no cheesy sex scenes, special effects, CGI aliens, or blood and gore splashing across the screen. Yet I really cared about the characters, felt sad when they faced obstacles, and hoped for their success. That’s why The Pursuit of Happyness is an awesome film and a great way to end 2006.

IMDB: The Pursuit of Happyness