Have you seen "The Pursuit of Happyness"? I just watched it last night, and I have to admit that I don't yet know what I think about it. I know the movie is supposed to be inspirational, but I mostly felt sad--and a little mad--at the end of it.

For one, I wanted to know what happened to Chris's mom. And I wanted to know more about why she left him and his dad in the first place. Was she as selflish as the movie made her out to be? Or was Hollywood just trying to draft a clean foil for Chris, Sr.? She was working double shifts and bringing in the only source of income for her family while her husband (unsuccessfully) tried his luck as a doctor-to-doctor salesman. That would make me frustrated, too. I'm not saying that she was justified in leaving her son, but I am saying that her side of the story is probably a lot more complicated than the movie's protrayal of it.

Secondly, I don't quite know what to do with the movie's "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" moral. I think Chris Gardner is an exceptional person for doing what he did, and I know in my heart that I never would have had the courage to do what he did. But he is just that: exceptional--an exception to the rule. I could not have done what he did, and millions of other people are not able to do what he did. What are we to make of that? I don't want to take away from his hard work and his incredible accomplishments, but what of the underlying social issues that keep other people on the edge financially or in and out of homeless shelters indfinately?

I'm curious to know what you think...