The movie Good Will Hunting was released December 5th, 1997 and was directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Matt Damon, Stellan Skasgard, and Robin WIlliams. This movie is about a young man in his twenties named Will who is played by Matt Damon. He works as a janitor at the famous M.I.T in Massachusetts and is extremely intelligent but has no desire to use his unthinkable brilliance in the real world.
Will is quickly discovered by a professor at the school. Gerald Lambeau, played by Stellan Skasgard when he writes an extremely difficult equation on the board in the hallway and Will solves it when no one else at the school could.
I find that this is the first metaphor in the movie representing the idea that you should never judge someone for what they look like or do for a living because they could have a pure intelligence that you may never have even heard of until you met that person and uncover their shell.
Will, even though very smart, still gets in trouble all of the time, especially with the law. Fighting and physical altercations are his first choice of lashing out in the dark world that surrounds him. When Will is caught in an act of violence he is ordered to parole with the exception that he must work alongside professor Lambeau in his studies while also seeing a therapist once a week.
After several weeks of going through cycles of therapists that could not handle Will’s character, he finally meets Sean Maguire who is played by Robin Williams. Will’s and Sean’s personalities collide in a strong, impactful way that is at first catastrophic to all that surrounds them.
As Will continues to live his life in the safe close proximity of his own mind he meets a girl named Skylar at a bar who is played by Minnie Driver. Skylar pulls out every emotion of Will that he shields away from the outside world. A fear overwhelms him that when she truly gets to know him he will not seem as perfect as he appears to be. He sees her as nothing but perfect in his own clouded mind and fear drives him to push her away just like everyone else.
Will and Sean continue to meet and the only breakthrough the two seem to be facing is their shared sense of humor and amusement found in baseball. Will uses his sense of humor to conceal the darkness that fills his being and Sean uses his sense of humor to connect with Will on a shallow level.
As Skylar tries to break through to him and discover his past like an archaeologist that is hunting for a fossil all she is met with is dust and emptiness that fogs his soul. Her love is a light that could brighten the darkest of places and yet he crushes her in the palm of his hand with the bitter words that flee from his mouth.
Will uses harsh words to push the people who love him away in order to keep the security of his loneliness at an arm’s length distance. The only person that seems to reach him is Sean who forces Will to fight face to face with his past trauma and regrets that leave him a shambled mess only to be picked up and remolded by Sean like clay to a sculpture.
This movie shows the troubled mind of someone with trauma and gives a broadcast to viewers on the function of a closed off person. This movie proves that all it takes is someone who cares and is not held by the promise of abandonment and abuse that the world pushes out onto us. One person who is willing to save someone from drowning in their own darkness can be the light in a desert of dark.
Will and Sean’s relationship exemplifies the importance of bondage between two broken souls and gives hope to the hidden. This movie is shown from Will’s perspective and acts like a lens of someone who’s trauma forces them to push others away in order to feel safe and comfortable in the hollowness of their own selves.
This movie leaves an impact on those who watch it and can change the way people perceive others. It is a comfort for the uncomfortable, an acknowledgment for the ignored, and a bandage for the broken.
