Review: The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Hmm.. happyness? Isn’t that misspelled? Why is happiness spelled as happyness in the title of this film? The title is intentionally misspelled, as it also appears in graffiti in a scene of this film. The misspelled phrase is actually taken from an essay written in 1776 that argued that whites and blacks were equal. This movie is about a struggling black (not tryna be racist) salesman who has been through a lot.

I might have been committed suicide if I were him. He only had his son beside him, his wife left them, and he didn’t have a job. But since there's nothing left to lose, he started his career from being an internship at a stockbroker, where from 20 applicants only one got accepted. This movie based on a true story about a man called Christopher Gardner is San Fransisco back in 1981. He started his long journey while raising his five-year-old son all by himself when a stockbroker Dean Witter offers him an unpaid six-month internship unexpectedly. Then he started dreams.

I think this movie is a real mind changing. You can learn a lot from this movie, from a father struggle for his family, the life of the lower middle class, chasing his dreams, and the life of a black homeless man in the 80’s. He became a real successful stockbroker from literally nothing. I also like the cinematography, script, and sound. It just fit the movie and the character. From the declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson once said “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In this movie, Chris figures out what Thomas Jefferson write pursuit of happiness instead of happiness. Because happiness is meant to be a chase. Nobody really gets to be happy. Even the richest man in this world or a family man who gets propper dinner every night with his family. Nobody can be happy.

But in this movie, when Chris finally gets the job, he said: “This part of my life.. this part right here? This is called happyness”. So I learn, even though only one hour or one minute or a single tiny second, you have to enjoy that moment. Because some people don’t get to be happy. Go pursuit your happiness.

-written by Azzah (kru’20)-