I can see why this film was such a hit in it's day. Pretty much just plays like a trip through history in the 60s and 70s. Not much substance other than that.

This is one way to reflect on a tumultuous time in American history. I am very disconnected from the events depicted in the film, as I was born after this was released, but the filmmakers and audiences of the time lived through them. They experienced the outrage over the injustices and the fight for a better world. They knew very well how years of protest and discontent led to politicians giving tepid responses and minor concessions while active efforts to thwart systemic change were successful in killing movements. They were aware that the society in 1990s America only existed thanks to marginal improvements over the injustices that were on display only a few decades later. This was all within living memory of these people and they look back at those times as nothing more than fun moments that live in our nation's history.

There was nothing fun about what happened in the 60s and 70s. And I do not look back to that era with fondness. It is notable that this film follows a white man from Alabama meeting all kinds of historic figures from the 60s and 70s that ended up dead at an early age but it does not have him experience the most historic event in Alabama history or meet the most famous man associated with that state. There is not even a mention of Martin Luther King jr, nevertheless Malcolm X. The struggle for black liberation is only a small footnote in this film despite being the most notable thing about that era. It feels as though the film is making a deliberate attempt to sweep that under the rug. This is probably because the filmmakers and studios wanted to talk about the vibes of those decades without talking about the substance and the actual circumstances they took place in. Almost like they deliberately avoided a commentary on the era because they wanted it associated with the vibes instead. Sweeping the fight for equality aside like it is an afterthought while they give the Vietnam War so much attention feels gross to me. The protest against liberal capitalism and it's injustices on humanity is how I remember the 60s and 70s, and their condemnation and defeat at the hands of the ruling class is a great tragedy in this nation's history. I cannot watch a film glorify the era and it's vibes without noticing how it handles such a pivotal moment, and this film's commentary (or lack thereof) speaks volumes.

That's not even to mention the characters in the film, namely the two main ones Forrest and Jenny. They just serve as the lens we view this commentary of the upheaval through. They both get tied up in these fights because they are lost and going with the flow like a feather in the wind. Not sure if that's how they expect us to think everybody in the era got involved or if that's how we should view it. Either way I'm not a fan. (I am a fan of that scene where Jenny and Forrest reunite at the Washington Monument though)

Overall this film is nothing more than mindless nostalgia for the vibes of an era famous for suppressing the will of the people and struggles for equality. I'm just glad I didn't have to see Ronald scumbag Reagan.