It wasn't about white guilt at all. Simon (Glover) saved Mack (Kline) from a potentially life-threatening situation in the hood. So Mack later treats Simon out to breakfast where he explains that a white woman in a Pittsburgh Pirates hat saved him from getting runover by a bus and he felt he failed to thank her appropriately; so this time -- after Simon saves him -- he wasn't going to let the occasion slip by without at least thanking his savior and perhaps making a connection. Simon could've been black, white, brown, yellow or red, it didn't matter. I suppose it helped that Mack and Simon clicked on a personal level.
So what's the movie about? Well, it effectively tackles more than the average flick and that's one of the reasons it's so great:
Miraculous life-saving encounters; white/black relations; the rich/working class/poor divide; homelessness. Why do kids join gangs/become hoodlums? The challenges of a nigh romance-less marriage; the drive to improve one's living standards. Does violence in film escalate violence or is it simply a reflection of society? Does a filmmaker have a moral responsibility to society? Life-changing experiences that aren't so life-changing after all. What do you do after miraculously finding/saving an infant? Divine intervention; matchmaking, blind dates and finding Mr. or Ms. "right." How many split seconds do you have to make a left turn in downtown traffic? The ripple-effect each person's actions have on others, revealing humanity's significance, which is contrasted by the idea that humanity is inconsequential compared to the Earth & Universe's timeless marvels, like the Grand Canyon itself.
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