Perhaps appropriately for a film in which allegations of plagiarism play an important role in the plot, "Finding Forrester" is a good example of Hollywood's propensity for self-cannibalisation. (The film's star, Sean Connery, had a few years earlier starred in "Just Cause", another film cobbled together from themes and motifs taken from others). The film's theme of a reclusive but kindly older man assisting a teenage boy with his academic studies seems to have been borrowed from Mel Gibson's "The Man without a Face". The reclusive writer William Forrester bears similarities to the character played by James Earl Jones in "Field of Dreams". (Both characters seem to have been inspired by J. D. Salinger, although while Salinger was a native-born New Yorker, Forrester is originally from Scotland- a detail presumably inserted to suit Connery, who has never had much of a gift for accents). And the character of Jamal, another academically gifted but troubled young man from a working-class background, recalls Gus Van Sant's own "Good Will Hunting".
Jamal Wallace is a black New York teenager whose academic brilliance and talent for basketball win him a scholarship to a prestigious private high school. His relationship with Forrester, who lives in a flat in his neighbourhood, is initially a difficult one- the two first meet when Jamal acts on a dare from a schoolfriend to sneak into the apartment- but eventually the two become friends. Forrester, who has published nothing since his one and only much-praised novel came out in the fifties, is impressed by the young man's talent for writing and agrees to tutor him in this respect.
Plagiarism may be frowned upon in academic life, but not so in Hollywood. Indeed, it is often positively encouraged in the film industry, and the results are not always bad. "Sommersby", for example, is a good film, in my view at least as good as "The Return of Martin Guerre" from which its plot was blatantly lifted. Similarly, "Finding Forrester" is, if not as good a film as "Sommersby", at least an interesting one, and its interest is not diminished by the fact that it contains elements borrowed from other films, because it succeeds in giving those elements a new twist. Van Sant and his scriptwriter use them to comment on race relations in American society, a theme not present in any of the films mentioned above.
The film's main antagonist is Jamal's literature teacher, Professor Crawford. (It would appear that in America the title "professor" can be applied to schoolteachers; in Britain it is reserved for the most distinguished university lecturers). Crawford, himself an unsuccessful writer embittered by the failure of his literary ambitions, is a covert racist who refuses to admit that a black student, especially a black student from a poor background, could have any talent for academic work. To his way of thinking, Jamal's natural sphere is the basketball court, not the classroom, and he takes any opportunity to belittle Jamal's written work. This highlights a problem prevalent in Britain as well as America, the tendency on the part of some white teachers and others in authority to assume that the talents of people from ethnic minorities can only lie in certain directions, generally sport and music, and to overlook the other gifts that they might possess. The film, in fact, can be seen as the story of how Forrester helps Jamal to define his own identity, free from the preconceptions of Crawford and of white society in general. Towards the end of the film Jamal misses two free throw shots in a vital basketball game, and the possibility is raised that he may have done so deliberately in order to confound the perception that black men are good at sport and not much else.
There is a fine performance from Connery as Forrester, testy and obstinate but basically a kindly, decent man. This was to be Connery's penultimate film before retirement; his last was to be "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" from three years later. From an actor nearing the end of his career to one at the very beginning. This was Rob Brown's first-ever film, and he initially only auditioned for a part as an extra. He ended up, however, being cast in the leading role, despite having no previous acting experience, even as an amateur. It was a brave move on Van Sant's part to cast an unknown 16-year-old, but it is one that pays off; Brown is able to bring to his part the sort of freshness and immediacy that are often missing from those films (too many to mention) where teenage schoolchildren are played by established actors in their late twenties. (Or in some cases thirties). There is also a good performance by F. Murray Abraham as Crawford.
The film is partly about challenging preconceptions, and it also overturned one of my own, namely that Van Sant is one of the most overrated directors currently working in the industry, although it must be admitted that this preconception was based upon some strong evidence. I found "Good Will Hunting", for example, long-winded and boring, despite a good acting contribution from Robin Williams, "My Own Private Idaho" and "The Secret Language of Cranes" were confusing and self- consciously artsy, and that awful version of Hitchcock's "Psycho" can serve as an object lesson in how not to remake a classic movie. When I saw "Finding Forrester" on television recently, however, I was glad that I resisted my initial impulse to switch channels as soon as I saw the director's name in the opening credits, because this was the first Van Sant film I actually enjoyed. It combines a provocative look at racial issues with a touching coming-of-age drama about the friendship between a young man and an old one. A very watchable film. 7/10
