The encounter between Will and Sean is passionate and disturbing for both parties. Sean, who is originally from the same neighbourhood and social background as Will, stands up to the boy’s arrogant attempts to disqualify him, and eventually tames him into cooperation. After several failed attempts with various therapists, Will finally accepts the authority of Sean, a childhood friend of Lambeau. Thanks to the mathematician’s intervention, Will can avoid a jail sentence, but only if he agrees to regularly see a therapist. Lambeau finds Will being held for assaulting a cop. This prompts Nobel Prize-winning professor Gerry Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) to seek him out. We soon come to understand that the average working class lifestyle Will leads is in stark contrast with the brilliant intellect he possesses: in a break from mopping the floor, he sketches the solution to an extremely difficult mathematical problem left on a university chalkboard. The opening shots show Will in a shabby, bare house on the outskirts of Boston, sitting on a chair speed-reading a book in the midst of other carelessly scattered books. Martin Buber (1878-1965) was an existentialist philosopher whose thinking focused on the nature of human encounters, and this is a movie about what it takes from a Buberian perspective to be liberated from binding fears and take the dreadful first step that leads towards deeper awareness, more freedom, and a higher level of responsibility. This is in fact a story of a Buberian I-Thou relationship which deeply touches, upsets and inspires both men to the extent that they both end up leaving behind the comfort of their old habits, move out of their homes, and leave town. The heart of the movie Good Will Hunting (1997) is an encounter between Will (Matt Damon), a twenty-year-old working class prodigy, and an apparently burnt-out middle-aged therapist, Sean (Robin Williams). SUBSCRIBE NOW Films Good Will Hunting Tamás Szabados gives it an existential analysis.
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