//////Ninth Record//// 

Three classes were spent watching "Paying it Forward", a heart-rending film that persists on committing good deeds for others, though they may be difficult and challenging.

for·ward :adv. /fôrwərd/

onward so as to make progress; toward a successful conclusion.

T h e  G i s t 

"Paying it Forward" is a movie centered around repaying of good deeds to three people and also the doer is in hope that those very three people will commit good deeds to three other people. Eleven-year-old TrevorMcKinney receives a Social Studies project to "plan an action that will derive a good change in our society and the world" from his teacher, Mr. Simonet. However, he trails into a utopian idea he calls "Paying it Forward", in which he will perform good deeds for other people in hopes that the receiver will do the same and not to return the favor to him (the doer). His first target was a homeless man named Jerry and lets him reside in his house for a couple of days, providing with food and shelter. Jerry pays it forward to Trevor's mother's truck and to a woman about to commit suicide, though he fell into drug addiction, leading Trevor to believe that his plan didn't work on him. Trevor's mother, Arlene, is against the entire idea of "Paying it Forward", and confronts Mr. Simonet about it. Trevor then decides that the next target of his project is Mr. Simonet, and trick both of them into a romantic date. However, Trevor confronts his mom about her drinking addiciton, leading her to slap him. Trevors runs away, and Mr. Simonet and Trevor's mom are reconciled back again, trying to find him. Trevor's mom then begins to bear a love interest to Mr. Simonet, and Mr. Simonet, out of his insecurity of the burns on his face and neck, initially refuses altogether. However, when they finally sleep together, Arlene discovers the deep burns on Mr. Simonet's chest and accepts him whole-heartedly despite that. However, the development of their relationship is put into a halt after Trevor' father, Ricky, an alcoholic as well, comes back home. This angers Mr. Simonet, whose had a previous history with his alcoholic mom always taking her abusive husband back. Mr. Simonet then reveals his dark history of his abusive father knocking him unconconsious and pouring gas over him to burn him. Arlene realizes her mistake after Ricky went back to his abusive behavior and his drinking. Along with this, there was a Los Angeles reporter, Chris Chandler, who received a car from a man, telling him to "pay it forward" to three other people. He then traces it to Trevor's school project. Passing on Jerry's good deed, Arlene forgives her own, homeless mother, who almost went into the brink of poverty when she was a child. Arlene's mother, Grace, started "paying it forward" to a gang member by helping him escape the police after stealing a television, and he passed it on to the old man whom Chandler met. Chandler then interviews Trevor as the orginator of "Paying it Forward" and interviews him about his opinions on the world and what led to the birth of the "Paying it Forward" idea. Through this, Mr. Simonet realizes that Arlene and he should be together, and ended up passionately hugging each other. However, during the same time relapse, Trevor notices his friend, Adam, being bullied and comes to the rescue. Though Arlene and Mr. Simonet took notice of the fight, it was too late as Trevor was killed with a knife from one of the members of the gang. He passes away, and the films closes in as the people who took part in the "Paying it Forward" movement gather around Arlene's house to pay their respects.

This is definitely worth the watch. It had many thematic lessons embedded in an hour or so movie, and the maturity of Trevor and his conception of the world is truly beyond me. I truly enjoyed it.

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