Critique for Good Will Hunting

The movie that I am critiquing is Good Will Hunting. Now there wasn’t an actual specific mental disorder or illness that I noticed throughout the film. What I did notice, however, was a specific event that happened in Will’s life, the main character, which would cause some damage or impairment to his mental state. He had an experience with abuse with his step father where he would beat him with a wrench. The severe trauma rendered him from taking the risk with decision making towards opportunities in his life, such as getting a job with higher pay and making progress in his relationship with his girlfriend Skyler. Will would push them back and abandon them before they could be able to.

There were only minor errors that I found in the movie that regarded the concepts went over in the course so far. One of them involved the therapist saying “Just because I teach the stuff doesn’t mean I know it” causes some confusion and makes me ask the question if he was really capable of holding therapy sessions with Will and be able to find out his problems. Another one of the errors was that people who had traumatic memories would try to use repression and push them far into the unconscious and would be revealed in therapy with the use of hypnosis, which didn’t work with the first therapists. The “bad memories” were revealed in therapy, but earlier in the movie Will still remembered and had it in his conscious state when fighting with Skyler. The other one I observed is that in Chapter eight in our textbooks, children who miss that part of development as an infant, the love and affection of a caregiver, often have serious cognitive and behavioral problems. The orphan in the movie, which I didn’t know he was until the middle of it, didn’t show the nature-nurture factors clearly enough to find what degree Will’s cognitive problems were really at. I think the movie would have been better if that was applied a little more. The way they showed Will’s behavioral problems like performing acts of violence in the park or his background of crimes that he committed really were clearly presented. But overall, the movie was not science fictional or anything of the sort.

Now the actors who played the parts in the movie were actually believable. The main character Will acted out the behavioral problems which is what a person with serious cognitive problems would do. Will also showed in the beginning of the film that he was inevitably a math prodigy, but still presented something emotional was holding him back. An example shown in the textbook was taking out anger or feelings on another person or him/herself. An exact replica of that would be the scene at the park where he ambushed the group’s leader who used to bully him back in elementary school. Another reason he was believable was when Skyler was fighting with him, he easily said he didn’t love her. This could be relatable to the Romanian orphan Alex who said “No, I don’t love anybody.”

Sean, the therapist who revealed Will’s problem, did play a believable therapist. Although he has different methods which he carries out during his sessions, the therapist was successful with Will’s problems not only because of his knowledge, but because of his personal experience with his alcoholic father. He would come home and beat Sean so he wouldn’t go for his brother or mom. Also in his profession, Sean gets Will to trust him to be able to reach further into his unconscious finding the problems with his actions.

I am going to discuss further into the “illness” that was described in the film. When Will is older after the abuse, he takes the form of affection and loyalty from his friends. The fact that they would back him up in any situation, even when facing the judge (even though he was the only one there) would fill in the hole that was supposed to be filled with the years of care he got from his parents. Now he has the fear that when faced with a risky decision, he would just quit right before the decision could backfire, so he wouldn’t get any hurt feelings. His problem leads to the conflict of the film where he goes to resolve the mistake he made with his relationship with Skyler, for the mistake he made was saying that he didn’t love her so that he wouldn’t get rejected by her.

Will’s problems with abuse weren’t really treated, but in the end where he goes to California to fix up things with Skyler could be counted as working on it. I guess the way to actually work on problems with abuse would probably be building trust with new people so that these problems would not worsen. For example, a person that would help him with trust would be Skyler or his therapist Sean. Those people would help enhance his resiliency. Also the therapy sessions that carried out during the entire film would also help his “illness.”

The overall plot of the movie left me feeling both surprised and feeling relieved. When Will the janitor knew his ability of mathematics but didn’t pursue it as a career was an impressive twist to me. I thought it would have been predictable to let the movie end with him winning the award like some movies today. Also the themes of self love, friendship and trust help him overcome the difficulties within his past and enjoy the outcome of his future. This movie impacted me by making me think about my friendship and trust with all my friends. I don’t make friends to fill the hole in my heart because of abuse and neglect, but I should let them trust me just as I trust them. The themes apply to our lives and can help us think about the obstacles we face in our everyday lives.

I like the setting of the movie and how they let someone who had a low paying job, barely small home and father issues have a gift to “just do” math easily like Beethoven with music. The way they start Will with his friends living their everyday lives really helps the setup of the story. Overall, the movie was pretty spot on our concepts of psychology, had actors who played a major role in carrying out the plot as believable, and really helped describe the effects and symptoms of abuse, neglect and abandonment. Good Will Hunting is the kind of movie that teaches us to love ourselves, trust others in friendship, and be strong when facing obstacles in our lives.