Finding Forrester

Finding Forrester The film, â€Å"finding Forrester†, was a good quality film, with a great theme and moral lesson. The film has two main characters, Jamal Wallace and William Forrester. Jamal Wallace is a talented 16-years old African American basketball player in Bronx, New York, whose secret passion is writing and reading. William Forrester is a reclusive Pulitzer Prize winning novelist who never gave the world a second novel. He suffers from agoraphobia which prevents him from dealing with life. After an accidental meeting, Forrester becomes Jamal's teacher and helps him to improve his writing skill. Jamal's passion of reading and writing, and Forrester's desire to be a part of the world again builds a friendship that changes both of their life. In his old public school, Jamal Wallace just another teenage boy who resembled all of his friends, except for his secret love to read and write. Once he attends the new private school, he is given a complete different experience. Jamal's passion for writing is kept secret; he hides in his room reading and writing. During the class, the English teacher asks Jamal about thee significance of â€Å"the raven†, he responds that he had never read this prom before. He was afraid to be different and though his friends would leave him if he told them about his writing. That’? s also the reason that he didn’? t tell his friends about his high test scores. Instead, he showed off his genius in basketball, since it made him fit in school. However, the school discovered Jamal's test scores, and thinks public school might not be the right place for him. The Easton's best private school offers Jamal a scholarship. As his friend, William, encourages him to find an answer, which Jamal believes will be found at the private school. When Jamal attends the new school, his experience was changed. He works hard to fit in his new school because the majority of people are white and more educated. Jamal had a big conflict with Mr. Crawford–his new English teacher. There were lots of problems that Mr. Crawford had against Jamal, most of which were based on as well as Jamal's race and as well as his writing talent. Even though Jamal's life changes dramatically after he transfers to a new school, he never gives up when he is treated unfairly. William Forrester is the other main character in the film, who is a famous Pulitzer Prize winning author. However, after the death of his brother, he develops agoraphobia and becomes reclusive, isolating himself from the outside world. A series of event and the development of a friendship with Jamal Wallace changes William. In the film, Jamal teaches William the values of life that he is missing; he shows his integrity to Forrester by not telling anyone about his life of solitude. The friendship with Jamal helps William to overcome his agoraphobia. William realizes he could trust Jamal because Jamal deeply cares about him. He takes Forrester to the Yankee Stadium, where he listens to his life story. This makes William realize the importance of friendship, seeing life in a new perspective. Before watching this film, I had no idea what to write about it, but now I have discovered and learned a lot from those characters. Jamal helps William to overcome his agoraphobia and go outside again to be a part of the world. In exchange, Forrester helps Jamal with his passion and goal of uniting. The friendship between Jamal and Forrester turns into a whirlwind that sweeps both characters up and changes their lives forever. This film tells me the virtues of life. Finding Forrester The movie Finding Forrester is based in the Bronx. Jamal Wallace meets William Forrester and at first is unaware that he is a famous author. William helps Jamal with his passion for writing which he covers up with basketball to get accepted. He gets the opportunity to go to a different school for basketball until he figures out that he would rather be there for academics. William and Jamal have an agreement that William will help with writing and Jamal will keep him a secret.Jamal turns in a paper that William wanted to remain in the apartment, and Jamal gets punished for it when he finds out the first part of his paper that William started for him had published in the New Yorker. Jamal rather take the blame for plagiarism instead of telling them that he knew Forrester. He still covers up with basketball, yet purposely misses his two free throws at the championship game, so the school would want him for his academics and not his athletics.In the end Forrester comes to the school to r ead for the class and the professor is shocked that he is there, and loves the work that Forrester reads until he says that it is not by him it is by Jamal Wallace. Then the professor knows that they are friends and Jamal never plagiarized from Forrester. William Forrester dies at the end form cancer that he never told anyone about. The end result is that he left his apartment to Jamal and he also gave him a break in his writing. William left Jamal an unfinished book with papers giving him permission to finish and publish it as his book.This is a huge break for him, people never took him seriously he was just a kid from the Bronx and that’s all he would have been if Forrester never helped him. My reaction to this film is that no matter where you’re from you can make it big. Also a friendship can start from any type of situation. I think you can see how they each helped each other through the film. Forrester helped Jamal with his writing and got him a better future then he was headed for. Jamal helped Forrester live his life not cooped up in an apartment. You can see how hard it is to be accepted when you’re young.Jamal had to hide his academics like his teacher said â€Å"being smart doesn’t get you accepted. † Basketball is what got Jamal accepted. Even basketball didn’t do it for everyone. In a different school it can take more. When Jamal was trying to teach Clair how to play basketball you could see in her father’s face that he was unsure about Jamal. Overall I really liked the movie, it doesn’t seem like something I would pick up off a shelve at the video store and watch. I am happy I got the chance to watch it; there are many lessons to be learned in the movie Finding Forrester. Finding Forrester Brenda Maravilla Professor Steele English 1001-006 March 11, 2013 Finding Forrester Reaction Paper When a two people meet for the first time in their lives they do not know what the road lies ahead for them. This is the case with Jamal Wallace and William Forrester; they came together as complete strangers and ended with a friendship that would last a lifetime. Jamal helped Forrester to live life again, to come out of his comfort zone and explore the world. Forrester inspired Jamal to write his â€Å"first draft with his heart† and too learned to never let life pass by, because they could potentially miss out on something worthwhile.Forrester, one of the greatest writers in the twentieth century in the movie Finding Forrester, lived his life in loneliness and comfort, but one unexpected day Jamal Wallace came into his life and changed it all. Their friendship began to help Forrester leave his comfort zone, he allowed Jamal to enter his world and share his work with him. Throug hout the movie Jamal learns he may only ask soup questions, a question that helps to obtain information that matters only to us, but as their friendship unfolds the more Jamal learns about Forrester.He learns how Forrester lost his brother, his mother, father and why he has never written his second book. Jamal becomes his family; he becomes the inspiration to live again, the inspiration to write again. One of the key moments in the movie begins with Forrester making Jamal promise to tell no one about them which becomes difficult when Jamal turns in one of his works that was published in the New York Times. In desperation Forrester tells him to write the letter of apology and to keep him out it. Jamal looks at Forrester hurt more than ever, yells and walks away.He needed his friend, but Forrester is too afraid. The lesson William learns is to live and he does when he gets out of his apartment to save Jamal from being on probation. He has learned to come out of his comfort zone and le aves to see Scotland. Jamal saw the world in black and white. He only knew of his friends and basketball, but his secret was he loved to read and write. But once he met William Forrester his world changed, he no longer had to hide his passion. With the help of William Forrester, Jamal further develop his writing skills and accepts his guidance to better his life.He is offered a full scholarship to a private school, which he accepts; he leaves his world of comfort and walks into a world of challenges. Although his writing is impeccable, one of the lessons he learns from Forrester is to â€Å"write his first draft with his heart and rewrite with his head. † This is a challenge for him in the beginning; he cannot press the keys because he wants to think instead of writing what he feels. As his writing grows and allows himself to write what he feels Jamal’s work begins to change that even his professor recognizes him for it.In the end Forrester leaves to see the world, Jam al continues to write, play basketball and go to school. He receives letters from Forrester, checking up on him and the colleges recruiting him. If it were not for the one-day he was dared to go into the home of what his friends made him believe was a killer Jamal would have never met Forrester and would have missed out on something worthwhile. Moments before the movie ends Jamal finds out Forrester has passed away of cancer, and in that moment he truly realizes why he never went out.He was afraid to live his life because he would not know when it would just end. Forrester leaves him with a letter, keys to his home and a box. In the letter Forrester mentions â€Å"Seasons change young man, and while I may have waited until the winter of my life, to see the things I've seen this past year, there is no doubt I would have waited too long, had it not been for you. † Forrester would have lived a life that was broken and would have never moved past his mistakes were it not for Jama l.In the box Forrester left him was the friendship that will never die, in that box was his second book. And Jamal was to write the Foreword and no one else. There is more to life than making mistakes, it is about molding them into a positive and living to the fullest. Forrester learned to move on from his mistake just like Jamal did. He learned to live life because in a short moment life could be taken away, without Jamal he would have never learned to leave his home and experience the world, as it is not how he remembered it with the bad memories.Jamal learned to see the world on color and took advantage to develop his writing skills with one of the world’s greatest writers. He continued to do what he loved, playing basketball, reading and writing, but also learned a great deal about life from Forrester. Life is like the seasons changing, we all have spring, the time in which we blossom. Summer, the time in which we develop and find who we think we are. Autumn where we may lose ourselves, but find out way and winter when in the last moment we try to live before death catches us.