"En busca de la felicidad", película del 2006 en la que por primera vez vemos a Will Smith junto a su hijo Jaden en un largometraje. Esta obra está basada en la vida de Christopher Gardner, un empresario multimillonario estadounidense, aunque no cubre toda su vida que estuvo llena de fuertes situaciones que no se retrataron en la película y que seguro hubiesen desmoronado a muchos. Entre estas se incluyen la violencia doméstica, un periodo en el centro de menores e incluso una violación.
Esta obra comienza mostrándonos a una pequeña familia, conformada por Chris Gadner, su hijo Christopher Gadner Junior y su esposa Linda Gadner. Ella trabaja doble turno para tratar de cubrir los gastos y él sale constantemente a vender aparatos portátiles para realizar placas, útiles en él área de medicina según él lo veía, pero lo cierto es que para muchas clínicas resultaba un gasto excesivo e innecesario para los beneficios que aportaba. Esto Chris lo aprendió de mala manera.
Los días pasan y no logra venderlas, la tensiones en casa aumentan y se nos revela que gasto sus ahorros en muchas de esas máquinas, él esperaba que fuese un gran negocio pero no fue así. Todo iba cuesta arriba, las ventas no se daban, las cuentas se seguían acumulando y su esposa se volvía cada vez más y más fría. Ya estaba decepcionada al ver todo el panorama.
Chris ve a un conocido con un lujoso auto y al preguntarle qué hacía y conocer la profesión de "corredor de bolsa", se inspiró para dar el paso e incursionar para llegar a la cima y salir de la dificultad que lo aquejaba. Sin embargo, no fue fácil lograrlo, para conseguir una entrevista debía dejar su "hoja de vida" con un secretario que ya tenía una montaña de ellas por lo que la esperanza de que la revisara era poca.
En eso Chris nota que una joven guitarrista, con un estilo de vestimenta "hippie" trata de robarle una de sus máquinas, lo que le costaría muchísimo. Ella logra huir y a él no le queda más que mentir al llegar a casa. Sigue la lucha por lograr que su hoja de vida sea tomada en cuenta, tanta fue su insistencia que logra que alguien de mayor jerarquía la tuviese, este era Jay Twistle, quien era parte de la directiva de la empresa de corredores de bolsa.
El día avanza y Chris encuentra a la joven que lo robó junto a uno de sus compañeros en un autobús, por lo que sube y recupera su máquina. Al volver con dos a casa, las tensiones siguen en aumento, Linda se queja y lo trata cada vez peor. Sigue la lucha por un futuro mejor y en su camino Gadner se encuentra de vuelta con Jay y le pregunta porqué no lo ha llamado a pesar de que ha pasado un mes desde que le entrego su hoja de vida.
Jay trata de evitarlo y seguir su ruta pero Chris insiste y se va junto a él en un taxi. Durante el viaje le trata de demostrar sus habilidades, resolviendo un cubo rubik en poco tiempo y mostrando elocuencia. Jay se sorprende y luego de algunas palabras parece haber esperanza en el futuro próximo de Chris, pero Jay se baja sin pagar el taxi por lo que Chris se baja apurado luego de que el taxista diese una vuelta, para tratar de huir sin pagar.
Hay una persecución y entre insultos y saltos, Gadner logra perder al taxista que insistentemente lo siguió hasta el metro. Sin embargo, al subirse se le atasca la mano con una de sus máquinas, por lo que debe soltarla, solo para que esta terminase en manos de un vagabundo. La situación en casa llega a un punto de quiebre, Chris no ha podido volver aun y Linda llama para avisarle que le abandonará. Él corre para tratar de llegar antes de que parta pero su esfuerzo es en vano porque llega tarde. Aquella misma noche llama Jay dando buenas nuevas, había conseguido la entrevista, pero debía copiar el número. De alguna manera logra memorizarlo y caminar hasta un sitio donde pudo copiarlo para volver a llamar luego.
Se nos muestra a un Gadner muy preocupado, sin embargo, en el camino se consigue con Linda y le reprocha por lo que hizo. Discuten y él se mantiene firme en no dejar a su hijo, permite que se vaya si ella lo desea pero se cierra completamente a la idea de que se lleve a Chris Jr. Ella solo sigue su camino al trabajo entre expresiones de profunda frustración e ira.
Las cuentas siguen creciendo y el dueño del sitio donde alquilan le da un ultimátum por lo que él promete pintar y que pagará pronto. Ya cuando se encontraba pintando el lugar y con Chris Jr en la guardería, llega la policía a buscarlo por sus cuentas pendientes. Sus faltas lo llevan a terminar encerrado por un tiempo, a pesar de que pronto tendría su entrevista y que su hijo estaba lejos. Por ello se ve forzado a llamar a Linda, entre murmullos propios de alguien que ya está en su punto de quiebre. Linda accede a regañadientes, ya estaba entonces una parte cubierta, sin embargo él seguía cubierto de pintura seca y con una vestimenta terrible para una entrevista.
Aun así corre a presentarse y con carisma y elocuencia logra dar una buena impresión, Jay se lo hace saber y le asegura que pronto estaría en el entrenamiento, sin embargo Chris no se muestra emocionado por el hecho de que no habría paga durante ese tiempo de preparación. Jay le insiste, Gadner se muestra indeciso y termina diciéndole que llamaría por la noche para dar su respuesta final.
Linda le informa que se irá a New York para atender un nuevo trabajo y él se muestra firme en su decisión de no dejar que su hijo se vaya con ella. Gadner toma la responsabilidad, se va a un sitio más pequeño e inicia una "nueva etapa". El entrenamiento comienza, se dan varias ventas de las maquinas médicas pero algo terrible le pone los pies en la tierra. En EEUU, si no pagas tus impuestos, tu cuenta es casi vaciada con tal de que te pongas al día en tus pagos.
"In Search of Happiness", a 2006 film in which for the first time we see Will Smith with his son Jaden in a feature film. This work is based on the life of Christopher Gardner, an American multimillionaire businessman, although it does not cover his entire life, which was full of strong situations that were not portrayed in the film and that would surely have broken many people's hearts. These include domestic violence, a stint in juvenile hall and even a rape.
This play begins by showing us a small family, consisting of Chris Gadner, his son Christopher Gadner Junior and his wife Linda Gadner. She works double shifts to try to cover expenses and he is constantly out selling portable x-ray machines, useful in the medical field as he saw it, but the truth is that for many clinics it was an excessive and unnecessary expense for the benefits it brought. Chris learned this the hard way.
The days go by and he is unable to sell them, the tensions at home increase and it is revealed that he spent his savings in many of these machines, he expected it to be a great business but it was not so. Everything was going uphill, the sales were not happening, the bills kept piling up and his wife was getting colder and colder. She was already disappointed to see the whole picture.
Chris saw an acquaintance with a luxurious car and when he asked him what he did and learned about the profession of "stockbroker", he was inspired to take the step and venture to get to the top and get out of the difficulty that afflicted him. However, it was not easy to achieve it, to get an interview he had to leave his "resume" with a secretary who already had a mountain of them so the hope that he would review it was little.
At that moment Chris notices that a young guitarist, with a "hippie" style of dress tries to steal one of his machines, which would cost him a lot. She manages to flee and he has no choice but to lie when he gets home. He continues the struggle to get his resume to be taken into account, so much was his insistence that someone of higher hierarchy had it, this was Jay Twistle, who was part of the board of directors of the brokerage firm.
The day progresses and Chris finds the young woman who robbed him and one of his companions on a bus, so he gets on and retrieves his machine. As he returns home with two, tensions continue to rise, Linda complains and treats him worse and worse. The fight for a better future continues and on his way Gadner meets Jay again and asks him why he hasn't called him even though it's been a month since he gave him his curriculum vitae.
Jay tries to avoid him and follow his route but Chris insists and goes with him in a cab. During the ride he tries to demonstrate his skills, solving a rubik's cube in a short time and showing eloquence. Jay is surprised and after a few words there seems to be hope for Chris's near future, but Jay gets out without paying the cab so Chris gets out in a hurry after the cab driver makes a turn, to try to flee without paying.
There is a chase and between insults and jumps, Gadner manages to lose the cab driver who insistently followed him to the subway. However, when he gets in, his hand gets stuck with one of his machines, so he has to let go of it, only for it to end up in the hands of a homeless man. The situation at home reaches a breaking point, Chris has not been able to return yet and Linda calls to warn him that she is leaving him. He runs to try to get there before she leaves but his effort is in vain because he is late. That same night Jay calls giving good news, he had gotten the interview, but he had to copy the number. Somehow he manages to memorize it and walk to a place where he could copy it down to call back later.
We are shown a very worried Gadner, however, on the way he catches up with Linda and reproaches her for what she did. They argue and he is adamant about not leaving his son, he allows her to leave if she wants to but is completely closed to the idea of her taking Chris Jr. She just continues on her way to work amid expressions of deep frustration and anger.
The bills keep mounting and the owner of the place where they rent gives him an ultimatum for what he promises to paint and that he will pay soon. While he was painting the place and with Chris Jr. at the daycare, the police arrive to pick him up for his unpaid bills. His misdemeanors lead him to end up locked up for a while, despite the fact that he would soon have his interview and that his son was far away. He is forced to call Linda, amidst the mumblings of someone who is already at his breaking point. Linda reluctantly agrees, she was already partly covered, but he was still covered in dried paint and dressed terribly for an interview.
Still he runs to introduce himself and with charisma and eloquence manages to make a good impression, Jay lets him know and assures him that he would be in training soon, however Chris is not thrilled that there would be no pay during that preparation time. Jay insists him, Gadner is hesitant and ends up telling him that he would call in the evening to give his final answer.
Linda informs him that she will be leaving for New York to take a new job and he is adamant that he will not let his son go with her. Gadner takes responsibility, goes to a smaller place and begins a "new phase". The training begins, several sales of the medical machines are given but something terrible sets his feet on the ground. In the USA, if you don't pay your taxes, your account is almost emptied as long as you catch up on your payments.
Chris casi desespera, se habían mudado, las cosas parecían mejorar pero ahora solo había poco más de 20$ en su cuenta. El dueño del nuevo sitio en el que alquila le reprocha su falta de responsabilidad en los pagos, tan solo para terminar cambiando la cerradura y dejando sus pertenencias fuera en unas maletas y cajas. Aquel día, su camino se había vuelto a cruzar con el vagabundo que tenía su máquina perdida, pero lo que parecía una pequeña esperanza termina siendo una luz muy tenue.
Junto a su hijo termina en el metro, entre juegos logra que vaya con él a un baño público en el que pasan la noche, entre lágrimas vemos a un Chris devastado por su situación. A pesar de aquello él sigue luchando por tratar de vender su máquina pero esta falla justo cuando debía probarla frente al comprador. Las cosas parecían ir cada vez peor, Chris busca apoyo y termina en un albergue, los entrenamientos siguen y a pesar del infierno no se rinde.
Vemos una de las escenas que más me conmovieron, Chris en una iglesia junto a su hijo escuha "Lord, don't move that montain", una hermosa canción cristiana cuya letra se centra en pedir apoyo a Dios para sobrellevar las dificultades. La letra enfatiza la petición de no mover la montaña de la dificultad, sino que se otorgue fuerzas para superarla. Chris sigue luchando y fallando pero por su perseverancia consigue contactos en un juego de fútbol americano al que ni siquiera hubiese podido llegar por su clara falta de dinero.
Hubieron mentiras con un tinte de mantener un falso estatus para lograr estar ahí pero parece que es una mala costumbre que a pesar de los años sigue presente, las apariencias son muy importantes a la hora de vender. A pesar de su insistencia no logra que se de el negocio que esperaba pero consigue algunos contactos.
Pasaba las noches en un albergue junto a su hijo y a pesar de las pésimas condiciones, seguía intentando reparar la máquina dañada hasta que finalmente lo logró. Posteriormente la vende y consigue un tiempo más de "oxígeno", es decir, un poco de estabilidad temporal. Llega el día del examen final del entrenamiento y parece que le va genial.
Le llaman y los frutos de su insistencia y carisma se hacen notar, al fin, Chris tenía el trabajo. Entre lágrimas dice "este momento de mi vida se llama felicidad". Se narra que por los contactos que tuvo hizo grandes tratos que lo llevaron a la grandeza, el padre indigente salió adelante a pesar del inclemente infierno que tuvo que pasar. En definitiva esta para mí fue una película que representa la victoria y no cualquier victoria, una contra las dificultades de la vida.
Chris almost despairs, they had moved, things seemed to be getting better but now there was only a little more than $20 in his account. The owner of the new place where he rents reproaches him for his lack of responsibility in the payments, only to end up changing the lock and leaving his belongings outside in some suitcases and boxes. That day, his path had crossed again with the homeless man who had lost his machine, but what seemed like a small hope ends up being a very dim light.
Together with his son he ends up in the subway, between games he manages to get him to go with him to a public restroom where they spend the night, between tears we see a Chris devastated by his situation. In spite of that he continues to struggle to try to sell his machine but it fails just when he was supposed to test it in front of the buyer. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse, Chris seeks support and ends up in a shelter, the training continues and despite the hell he does not give up.
We see one of the scenes that moved me the most, Chris in a church with his son listening to "Lord, don't move that mountain", a beautiful Christian song whose lyrics focus on asking God for support to overcome difficulties. The lyrics emphasize the request not to move the mountain of difficulty, but to be granted strength to overcome it. Chris continues to struggle and fail but because of his perseverance he gets contacts in a soccer game that he would not even have been able to get to because of his clear lack of money.
There were lies with a tinge of maintaining a false status to get there but it seems to be a bad habit that despite the years is still present, appearances are very important when it comes to selling. Despite his insistence he does not get the business he was hoping for, but he does get some contacts.
He spent the nights in a shelter with his son and in spite of the terrible conditions, he kept trying to repair the damaged machine until he finally succeeded. He then sells it and gets some more "oxygen" time, i.e. some temporary stability. The day of the final training exam arrives and he seems to be doing great.
He gets the call and the fruits of his persistence and charisma come through, at last, Chris had the job. In tears he says "this moment in my life is called happiness". It is narrated that because of the contacts he had he made great deals that led him to greatness, the destitute father made it through despite the inclement hell he had to go through. All in all this for me was a film that represents winning and not just any victory, one against the hardships of life.