“Finding Forrester” is a film about intelligence in unlikely places that, paradoxically, requires one to check their brain at the door. It is a positive film about positive people and leaves one feeling good inside.
William Forrester was an old secluded man who had an intense knowledge of words, writing, and grammar and knew exactly how and when to use it. He had written just one novel in his life known as “Avalon Landing” which earned him the “Pulitzer Prize.”
He lived unaccompanied in his apartment which was on the top floor and apparently was quite satisfied with it. The only time he ever went out was to clean his window because from there he used to see the world and what was happening around him. He was a proud, confident and an arrogant man who had an immense interest in books, novels, stories, and any type of writings and loved his type writer and used it frequently.
He had a stern personality and his rules were set which were mandatory to follow. Every word out of his mouth was of great significance which meant and taught something to anyone who could understand it.
As far as I can review, I believe William was suffering from Agoraphobia in which a person has an abnormal fear of being in crowds, public places, or open areas, sometimes accompanied by anxiety attacks. Maybe because it had been a very long time since he stepped out of his apartment and had no interaction with people.
Talking about racism, William did show one sign of being racist in the movie when he told the black sixteen years “Jamal Wallace;”
“Sixteen… and you’re black! It’s remarkable.”
This dialogue really offended Jamal but William manipulated the conversation straight away so it doesn’t really prove anything whether he was a racist or not. Maybe he had never seen any black guy writing so fine and was amazed. It could have just been his perspective.
