I concur with Erik's perspective, although I do want an alarm clock, now, with Clint's rendition of Gran Torino playing on it, because that shit will get me out of bed and running quicker than ANY talk radio I've ever heard. Sublimely disturbing.

On the one hand, does the world need yet another movie about a white person helping other-skinned people? How much self-adulation can we endure without it becoming embarrassingly clear we are working off a sense of guilt. Guilt which is often misplaced, anyway. After all, none of us were alive during slavery. My white ancestors arrived here well after slavery was over.

Most of us white folks whose families were here during slavery not only didn't own a plantation or slaves, but had to compete against essentially free labor for work, meaning that they were oppressed by the slave owners, too.

At the same time, it's amusing to hear supposed liberals seemingly bothered by freedom of speech and expression.

The U.S. is a big tent. When it stops being so, we will be diminished as a nation. Don't be hypocritical. The fact that we tolerate so much "diversity" is a positive distinguishing feature of our society. Let's keep it that way.

Is this movie based on "The Two of Us" (1967)? http://www.criterion.com/films/757