THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - MOVIE REVIEW

Pursuit of Happiness - Review 1

INTRODUCTION

The Pursuit of Happiness is a 2006 American autobiographical drama film based on entrepreneur
Chris Gardner's nearly one-year struggle being homeless. The plot is based on a true story, yet some
scenes were modified and added to the real story. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, the film features Will
Smith as Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as
Gardner's son, Christopher Jr.
The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name written
by Gardner with Quincy Troupe. The film was released on December 15, 2006 by Columbia Pictures.
For his performance, Smith was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.
The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a mural that Gardner sees on the wall outside
the day-care facility his son attends. He complains to the owner of the day-care that "happiness" is
incorrectly spelled as "happiness" and needs to be changed.

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PLOT
In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner invests his entire life savings in portable bone
density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard
X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in his life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag
between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife Linda,
who works as a hotel maid. The financial instability increasingly erodes their marriage, in spite of them
caring for Christopher Jr., their soon-to-be five-year-old son. Because Chris has trouble selling the
scanners, as they only produce a slightly better picture than a common X-ray but for a much higher price,
and hence does not have enough money to make ends meet, Linda has to work double shifts.
While Gardner is trying to sell one of the scanners, he meets Jay Twistle, a manager for Dean
Witter Reynolds, and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a taxi ride. (This incident did not
happen in real life. It was added to the movie for artistic reasons.[4]) After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks
money to pay the fare and chooses to run instead, causing the driver to angrily chase him into a BART
station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with
Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner
grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment so as to postpone being evicted due to his difficulty in paying
the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who take him to the
station, stating he has to pay for the numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction,
Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail instead, complicating his schedule for the interview the next
morning. He manages to arrive at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes, wearing
his undershirt, a gray jacket and jeans, which have paint splashes on them. Despite his appearance, he
impresses the interviewers and lands an unpaid internship. He would be among 20 interns competing for
a paid position as a stockbroker.
Gardner's unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York because
she might get a job at her sister's boyfriend's new restaurant. After Gardner bluntly says she is incapable
of being a single mom, she agrees that Christopher Jr. will remain with his dad. Gardner is further set
back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and Christopher
are evicted. He ends up with only $21.33, resulting in them being homeless, and they are forced at one
point to stay in a restroom at a BART station overnight. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at
a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure sufficient cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds
the bone scanner that he lost in the BART station earlier and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician,
thus completing all his sales of his scanners.
Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and
profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops a number of ways to make phone
sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high-value customers, defying protocol.
One sympathetic prospect who is a top-level pension fund manager even takes Chris and Christopher to

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a San Francisco 49ers game. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to
his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses $5 for cab fare, a sum that he cannot afford.
Concluding his six-month-internship, Gardner is called into a meeting with his managers. One of them
notes he is wearing a new shirt. Gardner explains it is his last day and thought to dress for the occasion.
The manager Martin Frohm smiles and says he should wear another new one tomorrow, letting him
know that he has won the coveted full-time position and giving him back his $5 as he promised. Fighting
back tears, Gardner shakes hands with them, then rushes to his son's day-care to embrace Christopher.
They walk down the street, joking with each other (and are passed by the real Chris Gardner, in a business
suit). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.

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CAST

 Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a medical device salesman and concerned father.
 Jaden Smith as Christopher Gardner (credited as Jaden Christopher Syre Smith)
 Thandie Newton as Linda Gardner
 Brian Howe as Jay Twistle
 Dan Castellaneta as Alan Frakesh
 James Karen as Martin Frohm
 Kurt Fuller as Walter Ribbon
 Takayo Fischer as Mrs. Chu
 Mark Christopher Lawrence as Wayne

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ANALYSIS
The movie presents Christopher Gardner, the main hero, as a man who undergoes insurmountable
challenges as he seeks ways to provide for his family. Things became worse for him when his wife, who
was the sole provider, abandons him and their son, Jaden. Gardner struggles to provide for his son and
afford him the life that he deserves. However, things are not easy for Gardner. Given his lack of
education and homelessness, it is hard for him to find a job. The director used this scenario to illustrate
the social and economic imbalance that exists in the American society. Just as shown in the film, most
Americans of African origin are poor and live in extremely poor surroundings.
Most blacks are often homeless and do not have good education as it is the case with their
American counterparts. As demonstrated in the film, most Americans believe in their economic system.
They believe that it is the panacea for the countries’ social and economic challenges. However, that is
not the correct position. Poverty is extremely rampant among certain communities, such as the one
Gardener and his wife come from. The movie clearly demonstrates the challenges that the couple passed
through. The director meticulously presented Gardner as a hard-working individual who is extremely
proficient in figures, but the manner in which the system operates could not allow him earn a living from
his efforts and skills. For a long time, Gardner wanted to be a stoke broker. He managed to secure a
chance at a brokerage firm, but given his lack of expertise in the field, he was required to do a six-month
internship before he could be employed. He works as a salesperson in a company that sales bone scanners
that most doctors cannot afford. He is not able to get a reasonable commission from the sale of scanners
due to the lack of clients.
Ideally, this was not possible for a person who did not have anything to live on such as Gardner.
The director wanted to illustrate how the much coveted American economic system is discriminatory.
The manner in which the system was structured could not allow people like Gardner to get a job and
provide for their loved ones. This scenario is common in the American society. The manner in which
the system works discriminates against people from the lower class. The same applies to Linda,
Gardner’s wife. She works twice as hard, she decided to work for two shifts in order to increase the
family income, but the amount of money she earns is not sufficient to cater for her family needs. She is
forced to quit when the circumstances worsen.
The director meticulously used his artistic skills to analyze the issue of inequality and highlight
the extent of inequality in the society. The aspect of inequality is clearly demonstrated through the
circumstances that Gardner passes through. Under normal circumstances, the government has programs
that ensure that children from poor backgrounds, such as Jaden, are given a priority to attend school and
meet their basic needs. In the movie, Jaden does not benefit from government programs despite the fact
that his parents are poor and cannot provide for him. The movie shows a pensive Jaden languishing in a
day care center watching a television as his counterparts from rich backgrounds go to school. The
circumstances that Jaden lives in cannot enable him to break the circle of poverty that engulfs his family.

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 Just like his father, he will not be able to afford education that can enable him get a job and provide
for his family. Unless the government addresses inequality in the system, the circle of poverty among
the poor communities is likely to persist.
The director consciously fashioned the simplicity of western society into a huge screen, techno
coloured panoramic masterpieces to come up with a symbolic myth that resonates well with the audience.
The theme of the movie rotates on simple subjects such as racial inequality, virtuosity, and evil among
other topics. From the outset, the movie looks like a typical western movie, but in content, one realizes
that it addresses issues that are common in most societies. As the film progresses, one is left to wonder
how the land dispute between the cattle baron and the homesteader relate to west.

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CONCLUSION
This movie has taught many life lessons which can be applied into management point of view.
Some are:-
 Believe in yourself even if others don't believe in you. In this movie Chris Gardener's wife leaves
him because she wasn't sure about her husband's success. There's scene in the movie in which
Chris tells his wife that he has applied to be an intern in a sales company, but his wife replies by
saying that it was a wrong decision and he is taking a step back from being a salesman to an
intern. But Chris kept faith in himself and he succeeds.
 Set-backs should not stop you from rising. There are many instances in which Chris suffers set-
backs . But the problems never bothered him. There is a scene in movie in which he is homeless.
But he never losses hopes, the new place he gets to stay had no lights in the night but then also
he repaired his machine and kept studying for his upcoming exam whole night standing just to
get some light from the ventilator.
 Never give up and keep trying. This is one of the things which one must learn as early as possible
in life. It is shown in the movie that Rubik's cube was a really tough toy to solve and some
Mathematician has solved it 31 minutes. He was aware of the record of 31 minutes but he solves
it in mere 17 minutes so that he could get time to talk to one of the selector of interns.
 Dream.
There's a scene in which his son is playing basketball and Chris tells him these words which are
really deep, simple and self-explanatory.
“Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got
a dream. You got to protect it. People can't do something themselves, they want to tell you you
can't do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”

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