Forrest Gump - A True War Story?

Forrest Gump is a classic movie, generally considered one of the best of all time. It is a film released in 1994 starring Tom Hanks. It follows the life of a man from the southern United States named Forrest Gump through flashbacks. His life experiences bring him to multiple historic events, such as the George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door at the University of Alabama, the Watergate Scandal, the startup of Apple Computers, the hippie counterculture, and most importantly, the Vietnam War. Gump enlists in the United States Army, and gets shipped out to Vietnam. During his experience in the war, he befriends Benjamin Buford Blue, also known as Bubba. They grow close, share hopes and aspirations, and they even plan to open up a shrimping business. Their platoon leader is Lieutenant Dan, who is a patriotic man whose ancestors had fought in every war and perished. They fight in the war as a unit.

In the war, the three men, Gump, Bubba, and Lieutenant Dan, are on patrol. However, they get ambushed by the Vietnamese while walking through the jungle. The soldiers are under fire, and many of them are shot, including Gump, who was shot in the rear end. . Forrest is able to save four men by carrying to safety, but his new best friend, Bubba, dies in his arms. Forrest goes to the hospital to recover from his wound, and there he sees his Lieutenant Dan. Dan lost both of his legs in the ambush. He is furious at Forrest for saving him in the battlefield instead of letting him die, like the rest of his ancestors. However, years later, Lieutenant Dan shows up at Forrest's wedding with two prosthetic legs and a fiancee.

While this movie is generally hailed as a comedy, and even sometimes a drama, this actually accurately portrays a true war story. Tim O'Brien cites some qualities true war stories have in his novel The Things They Carry. One of these is the fact that a true war story is never uplifting. Forrest Gump follows this exact quality. Gump joins the war, and makes a great friend, Bubba. But after they bonded, Bubba gets shot and dies in Forrest's arms. This is a very tragic moment in the movie. In no way is losing a best friend in a war uplifting. Another quality O'Brien shares is that a war story is never moral. A moment with no morality in Forrest Gump is seeing Lieutenant Dan in the hospital. Dan has had his legs blown off, and he was only left with an upper half of his body. He lays in the hospital bed, miserable and suffering in pain. This scene was lacking all moral.

The movie Forrest Gump, while considered a comedy, tells a true war story in itself.