Anatomy of a Scene - The Box of Chocolates

Few movie scenes sum up the random or arbitrary nature of life better than the scene in Forrest Gump, where Forrest’s mom talks about how "life is like a box of chocolates.” We never know what “we’re going to get.” Sally Field, a wonderful actress, explains in one sentence what some of us don’t understand in a lifetime: You have to do the best you can with what you have, and then let life take its course. We do have control over our destiny to some degree, but there are forces outside of our control.

Sometimes, we have to let life take its course, even with how painful it can be, like when losing a loved one as depicted in this particular memorable scene of Forrest Gump. “Death is just a part of life, something we’re all destined to do.” Forrest’s mom explains to him that we all have a destiny, and it is what we make of it with the time we are given here on Earth. His mother further explains how being a mother was her destiny, and that “she did the best she could.” Forrest is heartbroken, but knows that her time has come to leave him. Forrest—given the way his own life has gone, from college football player to Vietnam war veteran to shrimp boat captain—is still trying to figure out his destiny in his middle age.

The fact that Forrest is still unsure of his own destiny as a person, even in middle age, makes him extremely relatable to the audience watching, in showing his own vulnerability in how life has changed him, and how he is still unsure of what to do with the time he has left. “What’s my destiny, momma?” She knows that, even as mother, she can’t tell her son what his destiny is, and that he has to “figure that out for himself.” The randomness of life summed up in choosing from a big box of chocolates is fitting in a way, and is an expression that, 25 years after this movie was released in theaters, still has a way of connecting with people, because we all know how true it is. While we do have some control over our lives, we must be ready and willing to face the unknown challenges and changes that come our way.

Forrest is confronted by the death of the woman who brought him in to the world, and is unsure of how to go on without her. She tells him to be strong, and that she will “miss him” like any good mother would. He has to continue on without her, as hard as that may be. She had raised him to be strong and self-reliant, and to not let his mental handicap hold him back from achieving his true potential. She was woman who saw the value in her son, when others marginalized and chastised him for something outside of his control.

As she tells him, you are what God made you, and you have to do the best with what you are given. Forrest narrates how she got cancer and died on a Tuesday. He bough her a nice hat with flowers, and gave her a proper burial to say goodbye to a woman who taught him so much. Without a father in his life, Forrest’s mom played both roles, and did so under difficult conditions from that era. This is a powerful and moving scene in so many ways, but this movie scene has a particular message that we all can learn from.

Sally Field and Tom Hanks did an excellent job in this scene and in this movie. They have excellent chemistry, and it shows in this particular scene in which they say goodbye. You can feel the emotional depth of both actors, expressing what any mother or son would say to each other in such a sad moment in time. What most movies can’t accomplish in two hours, this particular scene accomplishes in two minutes. Losing a loved one is an immensely painful and traumatic experience. The emotional weight and gravity of this particular movie scene makes it one of the best of all time.

“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” Such a simple quote has resonated with audiences around the world for the past 25 years. An excellent film in its own right, Forrest Gump is a tribute to the power of the human spirit in the face of tough challenges that the average person can go through during their life. Forrest preserved partly due to the love of his mother, despite not knowing what curveballs life would throw his way. He knew he had to make the best of his life with what he was given. Because his destiny was not set in stone, he knew that he had the power to shape and mold it to make it what he wanted it to be, even if life sometimes threw challenges and obstacles his way.