8850
Saline-Milan Rd
Saline,
MI, 48176
September
21, 2014
Gus
Van Sant
9601 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-5213
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-5213
Dear Mr. Gus Van Sant
My name is Morgan VanOtteren and I am a
senior at Saline High School. I am writing to praise you for your incredible
directing in Good Will Hunting.
The first thing I would like to praise
you for is the way you developed the theme through the title. The theme of the movie
is that no one is really a bad person, and the fact that the title is “Good Will Hunting” seems ironic at the
beginning because Will seems like a bad kid, but by the end it makes sense as
he realizes it isn’t his fault. Before I watched the film, I thought it was
going to be about a guy named Will who goes hunting. As the film progressed I
began to think that Will was going to change his ways and become a perfect
person, but by the end I realized it was really about how Will views himself.
Another thing I really liked about your
directing was your use of foreshadowing. One specific example is when about
three quarters of the way through the movie Will is working at the constructing
site and his friend told him that every day as he is walking up to Will’s house
he has a few seconds when he hopes Will has just up and left without any
goodbye. When I heard this I was a little confused, but then Will’s friend
explained to him that he wasn’t using all of his potential. At the end of the
movie, Will’s friends get to Will’s house to pick him up and this time Will
really isn’t there. Although I did see it coming, this use of foreshadowing was
great because it also included a turning point in Will’s life.
The last thing I would like to
compliment you on is the development of the theme through the protagonist, or
in this specific case, Will. As I stated earlier, the theme is about how
everyone can be a good person, depending on how you look at things. Throughout
the film you see Will go through the transformation between being a cocky
criminal, to a caring businessman. Through the help of his psychiatrist he
realizes that the way he grew up and the way he is isn’t his fault and he also
finds the capacity to love. This is Will’s profound mental change and also the
theme of the movie.
Again, I praise you for your great
directing and thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Morgan VanOtteren
