Jamal Wallace was an inner city kid who aspired to be a writer. He was gifted but hid talents from his friends in the neighbourhood.He didn’t want anyone to know that he had writing talent for fear of being isolated from his friends.
William Forrester, a recluse novelist, watched Jamal and his friends from his apartment window. Jamal and his friends were curious about the novelist.
Jamal was chosen to be the one who went to the novelist’s apartment to check out on him. He was caught and ran away for his life leaving his writing journal behind at Forrester’s apartment.
He needed to go back there to get his backpack and his journal. Forrester threw his backpack at him from the window of his apartment. Jamal found his journal filled with red ink. Forrester realised this inner-city kid was gifted and, has writing talent and, he wanted to help.
After school, Jamal went back to Forrester’s apartment again to discuss his writing mistakes. He was impressed with Forrester’s residence surrounded with books of all kinds. He also wondered why Forrester never left his apartment. Then the two started discussing writing and the process of writing. Forrester taught Jamal to write with his heart and to rewrite with his head.
Jamal’s two kinds of education ran parallel throughout the movie. One was a formal education he has at school; another was an informal education about writing and life he had with Forrester.
It turned out Jamal’s result of the national test score was outstanding. He’s entitled to a scholarship at a Manhattan private school and played basketball there.
Jamal found out that the educational system at the elite school wasn’t any better than his old inner-city school, especially an English class. Just as William Forrester told him, “There’s nothing worse than a disappointed teacher. They are either very effective or dangerous.”
Mr. Robert Crawford, the English teacher, was very authoritative and dogmatic. He was a dictator in the classroom who loved to abuse his students.
Forrester told Jamal Crawford was disappointed with his writing career, so he became a teacher to teach others to write.
Jamal didn’t learn much at the elite school, but he learned a lot from Forrester both in writing and in life. Through writing, the two started to bond with each other. Forrester was his mentor, not his teacher.
Not only Jamal wrote better, he understands his mentor deeper. In an English class at the Manhattan school, he was assigned to read “Avalon Landing,” the only published book of William Forrester. He found out that the man who helped him to improve his writing skill was William Forrester.
He wondered why the Pulitzer winner wrote only one novel and gave up writing to become a recluse at his New York apartment. The character of Forrester was based on J. D. Salinger in real life.
He also found out Forrester suffered deep trauma in his life. This made him cynical and stop publishing any more novels. Both Forrester and Jamal were gifted and used writing as an outlet for their suffering.
Meanwhile, at school, Jamal was accused of plagiarism by biased Mr. Crawford. While Jamal learned a lot of things from Forrester, he didn’t learned much at the elite school. Instead, his talents brought him only troubles.
The climax of the movie lay in the scene of the reading of the writing contest in which Jamal was excluded. This time Forrester was willing to leave his apartment to help his friend out. He went to the school to read Jamal’s essay.
Everyone was impressed by Forrester’reading without knowing the essay was written by Jamal. But, when Forrester told everyone the truth, Jamal was innocent of all accusations.
Though having bargained with the school’s administrator, Jamal didn’t make any attempt to help the school win the basketball tournament which would bring reputation to the school. He intentionally blew the school’s chance to win. He’s through with the school which gave him only negative life lesson.
Though Forrester died of cancer at the end of the movie, the story ended happily. Forrester suffered from cancer before he met Jamal. The time he spent with Jamal as his mentor brightens up the last period of his life.
Not only did Forrester leave his apartment as gift to Jamal, he left his writing legacy to Jamal also.
In the movie, there’s nothing more beautiful than watching Jamal’s talent blooming with the help of Forrester, his mentor. Their bondage warms Forrester’s cold and cynical heart. He becomes alive again.
William Forrester was played wonderfully by Sean Connery. And this review is an homage to him.
In memory of Sean Connery (1930–2020)
