- published: 15 Sep 2013
- views: 638214
Pay It Forward is a 2000 American drama film based on the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was directed by Mimi Leder and written by Leslie Dixon. It stars Haley Joel Osment as a boy who launches a good-will movement, Helen Hunt as his single mother, and Kevin Spacey as his social-studies teacher.
When eleven and a half year old Trevor McKinney (Osment) begins seventh grade in Las Vegas, Nevada, his social studies teacher Eugene Simonet gives the class an assignment to devise and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor's plan is a charitable program based on the networking of good deeds. He calls his plan "Pay it forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for a third party rather than paying the favor back.
Trevor does a favor for three people, asking each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing favors for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds. His first good deed is to let a homeless man named Jerry (James Caviezel) live in his garage, and Jerry pays the favor forward by doing car repairs for Trevor's mother. Trevor's efforts appear to fail when Jerry relapses into drug addiction, but Jerry will pay his debt forward later in the film by talking to a suicidal woman, who is about to jump off the bridge.
Read the news today
Five people were killed
Our world is going mad
And it's hard to understand
I close my eyes and hide my face
My tears are falling down
Our world is a living hell
We were born to love
Pay it forward and you will see
I'm ready to go, I'm ready to fight
And my Spirit leads me right
I want to see a change
I remember the times when I was young
Those sunny days seem so far away
I see the sky is grey and I can't see the sun
I'm longing for a change
To face another day
We were born to love
Pay it forward and you will see
Where is my heart
Where is my love
Where is my heart
(Where is your heart)
Where is my love
(Where is your love)
I'm a victim of this time
I'm ready to go, I'm ready to fight
And my Spirit leads me right
I want to see a change
I'm ready to go, I'm ready to fight
And the Spirit leads me right
Love will show the way
I'm ready to fight
We were born to love