Favorite movie scenes 101 - Moments of Despair

Forrest Gump (1994) was perhaps the last movie where I really enjoyed Tom Hanks, in all his natural, witty, charismatic likability. After that he sort of shut off. Forrest sees only the goodness in people. In his company even the most desperate slowly come to feel they're like in the presence of an angel, the friend you always wanted to have, someone who knows you meant no harm. Without really having a plan, he's a natural healer.

The love of his life is Jenny, played by Robin Wright, and she's the most damaged of all characters. Her drunk of a father abused her when she was little, and she's been running ever since. Anyone but Forrest would have given up on her long ago, and throughout the movie she keeps using him and dumping him. A part of us forgives her though, because we can see that, deep down, her ego is so shattered she doesn't think she's good enough for anybody. She keeps running to Forrest as the only one who could ever love her, and then leaving to save him from herself. In his eyes she'll always be the most beautiful angel.

One time, she is spending a few days with Forrest back in their home town. They go for a walk and they're having a nice time when they find Jenny's old family house, a tumble down, weed infested shed of a thing. Such a face of sorrow and hurt dignity runs across her face, like a dark cloud over a sunny field. She starts picking up and throwing stones at the house. "How could you do this to me?" she screams, but her father is dead now, nobody lives there anymore. Forrest thinks to himself, "I guess sometimes there just aren't enough rocks". After she dies, as a gesture, Forrest bulldozers the house. I thought that was the most romantic thing ever.