This speech from Robin Williams is one of the most poignant moments in film history for me. I remember when Good Will Hunting came out back in 1997. It was playing in Nebraska approximately ten months after my father died. It was about an abused guy from south Boston named Will Hunting. My father was named William Hunter, he was abused as a child and he was from south Boston. That seemed important to me at the time.
Anyway. My family (mother/stepfather/brother/sister) went to see the film in the theater, but I wasn't allowed to go because it was rated R. I saw the movie a couple years after its release. Like any great novel, album or film, it remains a friend. Robin Williams has been a part of some amazing films, including The Fisher King (made by the Monty Python member Terry Gilliam) and Awakenings (based on the book by the incredibly intelligent neurologist Oliver Sacks who just recently died), but I'll always remember him for this speech he gives about his wife dying of cancer and loving someone so much you wake up truly happy.
I went to Boston once, to visit my dad's hometown. I was texting this woman I was in love with the whole time. I missed her every second. I went to the bench in Public Garden where this scene was filmed and I stared and I dreamed about being able to love her freely. I dreamed that she felt the same way I did.
If you ever get the feeling that Robin Williams gets in this scene, stay with it. I knew someone who could level me with her eyes. S and her daughter, "cutie π". I guess in the end she was able to live with "visiting hours" and I wasn't.
park bench scene – Good Will Hunting
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