Good Will Hunting by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Good Will Hunting by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

This is a stupendous work that has launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

They have won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for their screenplay

Will Hunting is a hero, an Ubermensch and a complicated, anxious, troubled young man, prone to violence.

When the mathematics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology writes a complicated equation, Will solves it.

But he is only a janitor at M.I.T.

This could be perceived as a confirmation of the calling theory, whereby janitors with a calling could be happier than white collar workers without one.

Only Will Hunting is very often in trouble.

He has had an unhappy childhood and he is now fighting very often, facing trial for various offences and crimes.

His mind is brilliant.

Without organized studies, he is able to quote from Howard Zinn and various history books when there is a challenge.

Chuckie is Will’s best friend, aware of the possibilities and skills of his genius friend, for whom he sees a great future.

Will Hunting though is both admirable and repugnant in his attitude towards other people, which may make some sense.

It probably is difficult to see how outstanding his mind is, capable of so many operations unavailable to ordinary people.

One student is competing with Chuckie in a bar, showing off his prowess and the superior knowledge of history.

Will Hunting comes to the rescue and demonstrates the flaws of an education based on assimilation without analysis.

He points out the futility of reading various treaties without taking the trouble to think about them and interpret

-          You have no personal contribution

-          But I will have a degree

-          So

-          You will be serving my children in a drive through

-          But I will be original…

Will Hunting is very keen on upsetting the analysts that he has to see as a condition for his release and parole.

He accuses one of being a homosexual, pretends to be hypnotized by another, inventing false childhood memories.

Finally he meets Sean, portrayed by the late, regretted Robin Williams, who has won the Academy Award for this role.

As somewhat expected, Will hunting starts on the wrong foot with this new analyst, offending him from the start.

Sean was more than in love with his wife, whom he had adored and Will hunting says that she was the wrong woman for him.

Sean’s wife has died after a long suffering and he is so sensitive on the subject that he grabs the patient by the neck:

-          I will kill you if you say something bad about my wife

Later on, the analyst is sharing memories with his new friend, Will, about how he met the woman of his life.

It was before a World Series Game, for which Sean and his friends had waited all night to get tickets and got them.

But this was the day when he met the love of his life that became instantly more important than the game.

Indeed, more important than anything else.

Finally, a quote from the clever script, that shows the brilliance of the writing, but also the fact that it can be somewhat exaggerated at times:

“Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin', 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.”