Personal Narrative: Goodwill Hunting

The best movie I have ever seen is, “Goodwill Hunting.” I have heard people talk about it up until about a year ago, but I still never gave it a shot. Until one night I’m going through my nightly routine of scrolling through Netflix titles trying to find a show or movie that will put me to sleep. Of course I could pick an obvious show like “The Office” or “Family Guy”, but I wanted to find something new. So instead I just search my favorite actor, Matt Damon. Came across a movie called, “Rounders”, and it co-starred Edward Norton. This was an obvious choice so I watched it without checking out any other movies with Matt Damon. I was very glad I chose to watch this movie because the cast did amazing and I love movies about gambling.

I couldn’t go to sleep anymore. I was too into what was going on, so I found another Matt Damon movie. This one was called, “Goodwill Hunting.” So knowing Matt Damon was in it now I’m pretty pumped.
Not to mention it co-starred Robin Williams. I couldn’t pass on this, and I made a vow to myself to not fall asleep. So during this movie I was hit with so many emotions; humor, sadness, anger, and I’m sure my IQ went up a solid 20 points too, but in all seriousness I never knew how great Robin Williams was until I watched the movie. I felt like he was talking to me when he was telling Will that basically although he’s smart, he still doesn’t really know anything about life but to be more precise, he says, “So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know all about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right?

But I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you’d probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, “Once more into the breach dear friends.” But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on Earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through cancer. And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms “visiting hours” don’t apply to

you. You don’t know about real loss, because it only occurs when you’ve loved something more than you love yourself. I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much. And look at you… I don’t see an intelligent, confident man… I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you’re a genius Will. No one denies that . No one could possible understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my fucking life apart. You’re an orphan right? You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally… I don’t give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can’t learn anything from you, I can’t read in some fuckin’ book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. I’m fascinated. I’m in. But you don’t want to do that do you sport? You’re terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.”
This scene alone made me fall in love with this movie. But it’s everything that went into this movie; the cast, the dirty humor, and the hurt all tied into one amazingly, riveting storyline.