Figure 1.--.

'Pay It Forward' is a beautiful film that shows despite immense odds, and far more what Trevor realized, his noble actions to change his small world had for more impact in the bigger world than what he could understand. Haley Joel Osment interpreted the role beautifully with his fine acting skills. From the roles of being a serious boy who grasped the gravity the precarious frivolty of human nature to the his carefree enjoyment of fun was well interpreted. Whilst the issue of alcoholism was sensitively handled, there were also bigger issues of the care and concern for a persons loved ones. It is tragic and ironic that this young boy who did so much to improve the lives of people, people he did know, should leave this world in such a cruel way. Pay it Forward is a Warner Bros Picture directed by Mimi Leter. It stars Kevin Hunt, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. There is also a cameo role featuring Bon Jon Jovi. Haley Joel Osment stars in the role of Trevor McKinney, a 12 year old suburbian boy who resides with his mother, Arleen in a lower class suburb of a big city. Arleen is a closet alcoholic who works as a waitress at a downtown gambling joint where there is strip and table dancers. She has to contend with rowdy and drunk patrons but does so admirably. She is a dedicated and hard working women. She has kicked out her drunken husband (played by Bon Jon Jovi) and takes care of her son.

Filmography

Pay it Foward is a Warner Bros Picture directed by Mimi Leter.

Cast

The film stars Kevin Hunt, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. There is also a cameo role featuring Bon Jon Jovi.

Setting

With the opening credit sequence there is an arial sequence that shows the enviroment that Trevor lives in. An endless landscape of cluster housing side by side with open lots, dump yards and lower class homes (the so-called trailer parks where the 'trailer trash' live).

Characters

Haley Joel Osment stars in the role of Trevor McKinney, a 12 year old suburbian boy who resides with his mother, Arleen in a lower class suburb of a big city. Arleen is a closet alcoholic who works as a waitress at a downtown gambling joint where there is strip and table dancers. She has to contend with rowdy and drunk patrons but does so admirably. She is a dedicated and hard working women. She has kicked out her drunken husband (played by Bon Jon Jovi) and takes care of her son.

Plot

The movie starts when a journalist is at hostage crime scene during a dark stormy night. In the ensueing battle with the police, the hostage taker escapes, crashing through and destroying the journalists car in the process. Much to his amazement, a total stranger appears out of nowhere and give him the car keys of his new Jaguar. The stranger tells the man to repay the kindness by "paying it forward".

The film then cuts Trevor on his way to school for start of the new term. He is a slight built boy looking very diminutive against the other students milling around. When going through the metal detector at the school entrance, he sees a flick knife being sneaked through without being detected by three boys. These same boys pummel Trevors friend around for no apparent reason. In the classroom that Trevor enters the children are very noisy as they file in. They are all casually dressed--loose fitting tops, cotton pants, jeans, shorts, baggy shorts and caps. Over here a standerd movie technique is used to subtley highlight Trevor against the other children: All the other childrens clothes are somewhat muted colours of blues and greys but with Trevors sleeveless brown top and with the red detail (he is the only one wearing red) and subtley highlighted makeup on his cheeks and lips, Trevor impercebtibly stands out.

The noisy class soon turns quiet when they discover they have a new social science teacher, a Mr. Eugene Simonet. He gives them an uplifting inspiring speech of the world and how they (however insignificant they may be now) can be of a valueble contribution to the upliftment of society. Trevor is awestruck and fascinated with the new teacher. He also notices that the teacher has a severe skin disfigurement on the one side of his face.
The sequence then zooms in on Trevor riding on his BMX bike through this somewhat hostile and harsh urban landscape to a scrap car lot where he sees a crowd of down and outers sifting through the trash and sitting around an open fire eating food. He notes a scruffy unshaven young man who is aware that Trevor is watching him. Trevor remembers what his new social teacher, Mr. Simonet, has told him and invites the man to his house to eat and rest.

This is unbeknown to his mother who comes home much later that evening from her waitressing work. She goes to the garage and extracts her hidden bottle of booze and drinks. Trevor wakes up later on and finds his mother past out on the bed sleeping with her clothes still on. He finds the bottle and empties the remainder in the kitchen sink. In this scene Trevor is wearing red pajama shorts and an old grey short sleeve top.

The following morning at breakfast Trevor tells his hung over mother that his 'friend' is having a shower. He is sitting at the breakfast table pointedly playing with his action man dolls. His mother knows something is amiss but she can't place it. An arguement ensues where he implies that he knows about her drinking. At that moment the man that Trevor has brought home appears. His mother is startled and shocked and orders him out of the house. In this scene Trevor is still wearing the same top from last night, a light grey jacket and brown cotton trousers.

Trevor tells his enraged mother of the 'assignment' Mr. Simonet has given them. Highly agitated, she goes to the school and confronts him. Being a very articulate teacher, Mr. Simonet gives her a long verbose answer and she leaves being more annoyed. The movie then cuts back to the news journalist who tracks down the stranger who willingly gave him the car keys to his new Jaguar. The stranger tells the journalist that he should "pay it forward" his thanks to the next three people he knows that needs help. The journalist decides to track down this 'new movement'.

The homeless young man in the meantime returns to Trevors home and starts to fix his mothers broken down truck. She catches him repairing it and confronts him with a shotgun. He tells her he is 'paying it forward' thanks to her son's kindness and due to Trevors generosity, he has since then got himself a job.

At school Trevor is taken in by the teachers noble idea of helping people and explains how the system of helping the next three people will multiply exponentially down the line to his class. The idea is well recieved. Trevor confronts Mr. Simonet later after class and asks what has happened to his face. The teacher misunderstands Trevors sentiments and does not answer kindly. Trevor walks away dejected and Mr. Simonet realizes his mistake.

Trevor then decides to visit the homeless man he had brought home. He is now staying at a cheap motel. The man is also a drug addict and has succumbed to the habit and spurns Trevors visit. Trevor crosses the man off his list of three people that he must "pay it forward". Trevor then goes to the school staffroom where he gives Mr. Simonet a fake letter written by himself saying it was form his mother that has invited the teacher to her house for supper.

The supper does not go well and Trevor's mother confronts him about the fake letter. Mr. Simonet has discovered that she has a drinking problem that adds to her woes. In the ensuing arguement wih her son, she slaps him in the heat of the moment. Shocked by her action, she runs to the garage to get a bottle of booze and drinks. Trevor runs away. With the help of Mr. Simonet whom she reluctantly phoned for help, they find Trevor at the railway station. It is an emotional meeting with her son and he hugs her when she confesses her drinking problem. Her relationship with the teacher has also grown. When they find Trevor at the station he also wears a tracksuit top for the first time that does match the clothes he is wearing. It does highlight that he must have taken it at random when he ran away.

As the relationship developes between Trevors mother and his teacher, it invaribly becomes intimate. She falls in love with him but finds out that he is hesitant in going all the way--blaming his scars for the problem. Again at school , Trevors friend is imtimidated by the three bully boys who pushed him around before. Trevor's friend is a much younger a smaller boy and does not stand much chance against them. He is a small slightly overweight boy with curly brown hair. His clothes are light browns with some yellow. Trevor sees the incident and realizes he is powerless to do anything as they roughly throw him into a rubbish tip. The bully boys are smartly dressed, looking very sophisticated and beyond their 13-14 years of age. They are smartly dressed in designer clothes. The leader has long slicked back black hair into a pony tail, the other has gelled brushcut hair and the third wears a fashion hankichief like that of a sailor.

Demoralized of the events that has happened around him, Trevor sits desponded in the schoolfield. A boys attempt to change the world around him has failed. The homeless man has fallen back to his bad ways, he can't pair up his mother with a respectable man, he friend is shoved around by bullies, what can he do? The world is far too complicated for him to grasp. Mr. Simonet approaches and counsells him. It is a poignant scene. That evening Mr. Simonet visits his mother, he casts aside his apprehensions his scars will have on her, gets undressed and they make love. Its a tender scene.

In the early hours of the following morning, Trevor discovers that Mr. Simonet has stayed over. Much to his teachers embarresment, Trevor is jubilant. He now calls his teacher by his first name - Eugene. Eugene stays over for the weekend. That evening they watch TV. Trevor enjoys the wrestling match thats on the box. He parades around in front of the box and wrestles with the bean bag as he imitates the wrestlers on TV. He is wearing a black sleeveless top and checked cotton pants with only socks on. Eugene and his mother look on and enjoy the moment. Unexpectantly, Trevors real father walks in and the whole mood changes. Mr. Simonet leaves looking dejected whilst Trevor looks on in dismay. His real father talks to his mother and says he is now recovered and sober (a drinker himself) and wants to make amends. Trevor sits in his room dejected. He wears a light brown T-shirt, brown pants and socks.

His mother visits Mr. Simonet some time later. It is not a happy meeting. He is not happy about giving Trevors dad a second chance. He is also most concerned about Trevors welfare. The arguement heats up and Mr. Simonet reveals to her that when he was Trevors age, his father burnt him with gasoline, hence the scars.

Things are not going well at Trevors house. His father is drinking again and is annoyed that his son won't talk to him. In the confrontation, Trevors mother runs shaken and scared into his room and tells Trevor, who is cowering against the wall, that she made a big mistake by letting his father come back. At the next day at school, the children file out of Mr. Simonets class at the end of the period. Trevor remains behind. In a very emotional scene, Trevor tries to convince him that his mother had made a mistake and that he should come back and give her a second chance. Mr. Simonet says its not possible. Trevor leaves in tears.

At this time the journalist has entered the neighbourhood where Trevor stays. Trevor is having his 12th birthday party. By coincidence, the journalist has also tracked down Trevors grandmother, who he finds out is also linked to the 'pay it forward movement'. She has been living the life of a bag lady. Trevors mother finds her at a dump and persuades her to attend her grandsons birthday party (provided she does not drink). Also unknown to Trevor is that the homeless man he had brought home had moved to another city where he rescued a women from commiting suicide (and so saving himself).

The party is a joyful one. The journalist visits the party where he finds all the links he found in the "pay it forward" movement leads to Trevor. He asks if he can interview Trevor for TV. This is done later at the school. Trevor is akward and gushing in front of the camera when the journalist interviews him and tells the public that it's Trevor that started this movement. He tells the jounalist that he is happy that his grandma could attend his party and that he is proud of his mothers bravery. He gives a moving account that people can overcome their shortcomings. Mr. Simonet is moved by his speech. He approaches Trevors mother outside the classroom declares his love for her.

In the last scene after the interview Trevor is in the bicycle shed saying goodbye to the children who watched the interview. He takes his bike to leave. Just then, as the other children are gone, the three bully boys appear and attack his young friend, kicking him whilst he is on the ground. Trevor this time intervenes. He manages to knock down one boy whilst riding his bike. He then falls off and a free for all fight developes. The leader of the pack draws a knife and stabs Trevor whilst his mother and teacher come running to assist him. The boys run away and an ambulance is called. Trevor dies in hospital.

In the closing credits there is a newscast with Trevors interview and how his 'pay it forward' initiative has spread across the country.

Costuming

He wears a sleeveless dark brown top with red panels on the shoulder, baggy jeans with a too long belt around his waist and track shoes. At school, Trevor wears a light grey T-shirt with short sleeves with featuring a black border and black pants. As always he wears the same digital watch throughout the story. In one scene he wears a dark blue T-shirt and brown cargo pants. His dress is not overstated and the makeup is not so pronounced.On his back he has a black nylon backpack featuring large shoulder pads. His dark brown hair is long on the top and sides with a heavy fringe.

Andre Amtrade

Created: September 1, 2001
Last updated: September 1, 2001