The Grand Canyon Movie

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The Grand Canyon, directed by Lawrence Kasdan in 1991, is a film that involves many life lessons. The characters in this film all have many different lives but they are all located in the same city, the city of Los Angeles. The characters come from different backgrounds of life and live in different classes. Some are rich and live in a safe area, where majority are white. For example, all the neighbors are friendly and they are comfortable with being outside. The others live in a poor unsafe area where majority are colored. For example the neighbors are never outside because there’s gangs and many police around and in the beginning of the movie helicopter flashes the light around the neighborhood. The film shows how each character has a life …show more content…

Mack (Kevin Kline) was leaving a basketball game when his car broke down in an uncomfortable area. Mack called a tow truck but while he was in his car waiting, a group of colored guys approached his car harassing him. The guys made Mack get out of his car and he thought his live was over but then Simon (Danny Glover) the tow truck driver arrived. Simon took control of the situation and saved Mack’s life. The film had many elements, one being dialogue especially in that first scene. Kasdan had the guys who approached Mack just being them self’s and saying things how the normally would in a real life situation. “Do you respect me, or do you respect my gun” says one of the guys to Simon. Another element was the camera shots and sound effects that made me feel the way the characters did. Like in this first scene the way the camera paneled around the car as the guys were harassing him showed how over whelming the situation was. Then when you could hear the tow truck coming down the street showed a sense of …show more content…

Claire (Mary McDonnell), Mack’s wife was out jogging one day and heard a baby crying in the woods. She found the baby placed right in the sunlight, wrapped in a blanket like it was placed in that exact spot for a reason. There was background music that made the feeling mystical. She took the baby home and fell in love with her. Mack then came home and told her they had to call the police. A few days later Claire was jogging again, observing her surroundings. As she was jogging she ran into a guy with a beard, they made awkward eye contact. Kasdan used a close up shot of their eye contact to show that there was a reason they ran into each other. While Claire was discovering miracles there is a transition to a different scene when Simons sisters house was being shot at during a drive by shooting. Kasdan used the camera speed to emphasis the emotion in the film when she was crying. Simon is concerned about his nephew and his involvement in gangs. As Claire was expressing her feelings about poverty and the unfairness in the world to Mack, Simon was expressing his concern about his nephew to Mack. Mack started to realize things are unfair and that he wanted to help. Mack told Simon about a place near his house for sale so he could move his family to a better neighborhood. Claire expresses how she wants to adopt the baby and how it was meant for her to find the baby just like it was meant for Simon to show up at the right

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