The Pursuit Of Happyness (2006)
Starring Will and Jaden Smith, The Pursuit Of Happyness is based on the memoir of Chris Gardner, who struggled against social and financial adversity, to build a secure life for himself and his son. With Gabriele Muccino in the director’s chair, the story was written for the screen by Steven Conrad, and focuses on Gardner’s journey from homelessness to professional success.
Gardner (Will Smith) is a salesman, with a wife who works as a maid (Thandie Newton), and a five year old son (Jaden Smith), but he clashes with his spouse after having invested his life savings in portable bone density scanners. Events conspire against him, and his sales business flounders – creating financial insecurity for the family and resulting in the departure of his wife – who leaves their son with Gardner.
In the ensuing months, the newly single father faces prosecution for unpaid parking tickets, the garnishing of his bank accounts for unpaid income taxes, and ultimately, eviction. He has the opportunity of a six-month unpaid internship with a brokerage firm – with the possibility of a broker position at the end of it, however, and takes the leap. Taking it on, despite his financial situation, Gardner and his son survive the six months, and celebrate his success when he eventually earns the full-time job as a broker.
The extraordinary story that plays out against the backdrop of investment and stock trading is unusual in the genre, since it is not based in the financial corruption of the investment industry, but rather the moral corruption of society. The ease with which a family can find themselves with nothing in the modern world is a disturbing reality to be confronted with – while the determination to find solutions in the face of such adversity is inspirational.
