life is abstract

The Pursuit Of Happyness

Firstly, its not a typo. The film makers obviously wanted 'Happyness' to be spelt that way! I went to watch this show after much sighing. Haiz. Why got no 300 come out yet? How about Letters From Iwo Jima? And what about Spiderman3? oh wait, thats in May..

The Pursuit Of Happyness is literally about a man's pursuit to be happy. Based on a true-story, this show actually captivated me throughout its whole duration. Not because of the cool cars, good food (there isn't any. He just fried up some for his kid) or because he ran away from a fat-ass cabbie driver after cheating his sorry ass of his fare but because of its wonderful storyline. Ok, lets begin.

The movie is based on the true story of a certain Chris Gardner. He has a wife and a young kid whom he has to support. Lacking certain certs that make him easily employable (study hard r guys), he worked as a salesman of some retarded machine that is sort of like an x-ray machine. The fact that he is a door-to-door salesman makes it worse! He lugs the thing everywhere he goes and if he is lucky enough to sell it, he gets by for a month. If not, he falls behind in rent, his wife has to take double shifts and his poor son suddenly realises his world is caving in on him.

The going gets tough when the landlord evict them from their rented apartment and his wife leaves him, albeit for the 'Greener' pastures of a New York Burger Joint where her sister owns. He is suddenly left without a home for himself and his son. To make matters worse, their savings in the bank are practically wiped out by taxes. They have no way to stay and no place to go. On top of that, he suddenly has those 'I haaaavvveeee a dreeeeeam' kind of feelings and romps off to join a stock brokerage firm as an intern. Basically, it means the company feels u r qualified or willing enough to make it through their ranks in the company and employ you as a trainee. During this period, they teach u the ways of a stock broker. You eventually take some tests and based on their final assessment, out of 20 candidates, only one will be selected. The worse thing is, during this trial period, they will not pay you any money.

So basically poor Chris has a job without pay for 6 mths!!! With no home, no savings and who knows how little money he has on him, he plods on with his son. The son is surprisingly loyal and faithful to him all the way. Thumbs-up! He experiences the worse scenarios, he and, junior sleep in public toilets, get accomodation in church related houses for the homeless, sacrifices time and sleep just to get by and loses all his friends. Yet, he does not give up.

The story has a happy ending. His pursuit of Happyness was eventually accomplished when he was finally accepted by the brokerage( he was the ONE haha). And in 2006, he sold his own share of a company he created for millions.

It is truly a rags-to-riches story. A telling tale that will inspire many generations to come. It is a story that boasts of the wonderful strength of human determination; an insurmountable mountain in the face of adversity.

What struck me most was his speech to his son while they were casually playing a game of basketball. These were his words.

posted by Cave II @ 3:27 AM