Clemente, Christen Jayna D.

2021 - 46242

Film Review #1 - Pay It Forward (2000)

This early 2000’s film tells the story of a 12 year-old boy named Trevor McKinney, a

middle schooler enrolled in a social studies class. He knows that the world he lives in is not ideal

or perfect in any sense. His parents are rarely present in his life. His mother Arlene, in particular,

suffers from alcoholism. His project for the class is to change the world. The plan? Help three

people accomplish something they can’t do, then have those people do the same with three other

people. The catch? He succeeds.

Pay It Forward (2000) begins with an old man, called Mister Thorsen, giving a journalist,

named Chris Chandler, a new car in a seemingly random act of kindness promptly after the

latter’s car is crashed into. Thorsen, a litigator, later explains to Chandler that it was because a

stab wound victim did him a favor by letting his daughter receive medical attention first, and

asked that he also do favors for three other people — “pay it forward.” In awe of this act,

Chandler becomes determined to track down the origin of this movement. He then tracks this

down to a convict named Sidney Parker, who at first denies that he got the idea of “paying it

forward” from someone else. However, a while later, as he is asked why he should be granted

parole, Parker reveals that the reason he did it was because an old lady had helped him get out of

trouble and told him to do so. The journalist then traces down this old woman to a slum in Las

Vegas and interviews her. We later learn that her daughter is Trevor’s mother Arlene, whose

favor to her was forgiving her. Thusly, she too, “paid it forward.” Chandler arrives at Arlene’s

home on Trevor’s 12th birthday, and she confesses that Trevor was the root of everything.
 It all started on the first day of class. The new seventh grade teacher, Eugene Simonet,

told the class that their project would be to think of an idea to change the world and put it into

action. Then 11 years old, Trevor McKinney brings a homeless man named Jerry home, gives

him money, and feeds him, hoping to get him off drugs and off the street. His mother initially

thought nonsense of the idea, making Jerry leave the home out of distrust. Outraged, Trevor goes

to check on Jerry instead of returning home, but is distraught to find that Jerry relapsed. After his

initial “failure,” he turns to help both his mom and his teacher by setting them up. Their

relationship is a bit reluctant at first, but strengthen over time, until Trevor’s biological father

Ricky shows up and says he has changed for the better. Arlene ends up picking him over Eugene,

having immense faith in him. This action causes a rift between the two. When Ricky later proves

to be abusive, Arlene admits that she has made a mistake. Eugene, however, tells her he is not

ready to take her back, and admits the burns he had were a product of his own father’s abusive

tendencies. Consequently, Arlene visits her mother, Grace, and allows her to see Trevor on his

birthday. When the journalist finds them there and learns about Trevor’s involvement, he asks to

interview Trevor at the school. Unfortunately, Trevor is met with death after defending a friend

of his just moments before the story of his project is shared in the news and becomes a

nationwide movement.

The concept of “pakikipagkapwa” is defined by Lagdameo-Santillan (2018) as

“connecting myself with others, feeling myself in the other and having a sense of shared identity

and a shared inner self.” In simpler terms, it is seeing yourself in another person. In my opinion,

this is exemplified in the film through the random passing on of favors or tasks from person to

person, stranger to stranger. It does not matter to them what their relation is to each other.

Whether or not they are family or just ordinary people who happened to bump in to each other,
they just need to get their favors done. That is ultimately what is important to them. This act, of

course, not only requires the “immense faith in the goodness of humanity” that the teacher talks

about, but also a great deal of empathy. In order to help someone’s case, you must first see

yourself in their position. This can help one better understand the situation and in turn address it

better. Having watched the film twice, I can say that they portrayed empathy numerous times in

the film. Some characters even went to great lengths to get a favor done for someone, like the

convict.

Having said this, what are the issues with this concept of “pakikipagkapwa” in the film?

Well, to state one thing, not all characters in the film see eye to eye. At least, not always. Arlene

had a hard time setting her pride aside for her son’s sake to the point of losing it and slapping her

son across the face in a fit of rage. She also looked down at Jerry for living in her house in spite

of Trevor being the one who offered to take him in. Eugene lashed out at Arlene for taking Ricky

back in spite of his budding relationship with her instead of accepting her decision. Trevor kept

withholding things from his mother as a result of her frequently lying to him, which created an

unwanted gap between the two. He also remains mainly a bystander when his friend got picked

on and beat up the first time, knowing the bullies could also get the best of him. Instead of being

willing to understand each other’s problems and solve them, they all at one point turned a blind

eye to each other. This is entirely in contrast with the concept of faith in humanity, empathy, and

collective problem solving that the entire film decidedly clings to.

The main character, Trevor, went through a lot in the film. We know based on the film

that he has had a tumultuous history, even as a child. His father was absent for most of his life.

When he was present, however, he constantly abused Trevor’s mom. His mother, on the other

hand, was an alcoholic who tried to recover over the course of the film but relapsed multiple
times, despite promises to sober up. She worked two jobs in order to support Trevor and herself,

but as a result, she became out of touch with her own son. She also appeared to have explosive

emotions, which may be due to the fact that she was too accustomed to alcohol. Ultimately, at

just 11 years, he did not hold much faith in his family. He looked bleak. He was also teased in

class due to his project plan being “utopian.” However, this plan was the way through which he

planned to overcome the adversities life had given him. He tells his teacher in the climax that “he

didn’t care about the grade.” He just wanted the world around him to change because he

acknowledged how much the world sucks. His solution to his parents’ issue was to do a favor for

his mom by setting her up with Mister Simonet. He also overcame his bystander’s guilt and fear

of getting beaten up when he drew the bullies’ attention away from his friend and classmate

Adam near the end of the film, which led to his untimely demise. Therefore, we come to the

conclusion that his solution to the challenges he faced was simply to be the good he wanted to

see.

As it is a film from the year 2000 that is based on a novel published in 1999, I will

acknowledge that some of the content of the film might not have been considered problematic

then in the same way it might be in the present day. Additionally, I will not claim that it

romanticizes any dangerous concept like abuse in the film’s portrayal of it. However, I was born

in 2004, so I cannot say I have sufficient capabilities to judge this film based on the accuracy of

its portrayal of real-world issues such as domestic abuse and child abuse on my own. I cannot

comment much on the plot itself, but the pacing of the film is a flaw in my opinion. The way it

switches between the origin of the movement that is Trevor’s life and the journalist’s hunt for the

said origin is so disrupting to the story’s flow. It was honestly difficult to follow during certain

points. Additionally, the film changes so much of the details that are established in the book. An
example of this is the change in Mister Simonet’s character. In the novel written by Hyde (1999),

Eugene Simonet is named Reuben St. Clair. The change was not only in his name, though.

Reuben St. Clair was African-American in the original iteration of the story. They also changed

the origin of his burns from a napalm burn incident from serving in the Vietnam War to an

abusive attack by his father. Upon finding this out, I was very distraught that the filmmaker

would go as far as to rewrite one of the main characters especially since they did not bother to

change the actor for Sidney Parker, also known as the convict. I also find the script to be a bit

lackluster when the focus is not on Trevor, Arlene, or Eugene. It feels so dragging in my opinion,

as if someone just needed to fill empty space. It felt like it was unnecessary. I could understand

the film even without those scenes. However, I do applaud the performances of the three main

actors, namely Spacey, Osmont, and Hunt.

After all of this, I would still say that Pay It Forward is a relatively wholesome watch.

Yes, I would still call it wholesome despite the suggestive scenes and depictions of abuse. It

actually conveys its message quite well. I do not think there is anything more powerful than the

imagination and hope a child holds, because deep inside, we all know that we have been in that

position once in our lives. The feeling of having blind, yet honest faith in the world around you,

which you cannot even bring yourself to fully comprehend yet. It is to find that faith in yourself

and others again, even when you are no longer a child with that same hopefulness, but a grown

individual equipped with knowledge of the world that is the message of this story. It is to learn

that, even with the passing of time and learning that people are not always worth trusting, we

should still find it in ourselves to understand others and help them in any way that we can, and

get them back up and going. Finally, this movie inspired me to be more active in assisting the

people around me, and I hope it does the same with others, as the message is really beautiful. It
did a favor for all of us — even when all is said and done, we should still be able to pay it

forward.
 References

Lagdameo-Santillan, K. (2018, July 24). Roots of Filipino humanism: Kapwa. Pressenza.

https://www.pressenza.com/2018/07/roots-of-filipino-humanism-1kapwa/#:~:text=Pakiki

pagkapwa.,and%20a%20shared%20inner%20self.

Leder, M. (Director). (2016). Pay it forward [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.