I finally read the book and Forrest is not mentally deficient at all in the book.
In the book, he’s a very aware, intelligent person who’s good at focusing on and solving problems but has a speech impediment.
Maybe the movie tried to do that, but I don’t think they tried to do that.
He also goes to space with a chimpanzee.
The book is pretty crazy.
You’re not wrong they literally have a scene talking about his test scores showing his mentally deficiency on a written test.
In the film he’s a diagnosed retard.
Which you could charitably read as them not understanding that a speech impediment doesn’t translate to lower intelligence, but reading the book is very jarring because it’s basically narrated by this almost hyper self-aware character who became famous for being portrayed as unthinking, literally mentally challenged and falling into all of these events.
Imagine interacting with strangers beyond “did the bus I need already stop here?”.
Signed, the Netherlands.
I can’t imagine interacting with strangers at all under any circumstances (as long as it’s on a bus).
Signed, Sweden
It’s so inconsiderate to interact with strangers in an environment they cannot escape.
Greetings from Norway
