The Lunch Date

            In the short film, The Lunch Date, an upper class woman is at grand central station trying to catch her train, but on the way, the audience sees a few mishaps along her journey to the train.  The woman seemed cautious, saying that she is by herself in a big train station with homeless people all around.  I think the director purposely put the homeless people throughout the film to make a point at the end.  She bumps into an African American man, who is dressed in a suit, but doesn’t want his help because she thinks the man will rob her.  We can see the racism and hatred toward the man, even when he is trying to help the woman.  Since this film was set a long time ago when racism was a “bigger” issue, the author is showing a major societal problem and how the upper class people could care less and just walk right past.  When the woman goes to get her food, the audience can see that she sits down at the wrong table, and is too ignorant to notice that it wasn’t her table.  The director portrays the kindness that the homeless man shows the woman by having the homeless man let her eat the salad and by getting her coffee.  The woman seems to be grateful and thanks the man.  As I was watching, I thought the woman was going to go through a change of heart, but they say no more words to each other.  I think the author wanted the reader to think that the woman would have a better heart, when in reality after she returns from realizing she forgot her bags, she just laughs.  She leaves the salad on the table and doesn’t show any emotions, other than laughter.  As the film ends, the camera shifts toward a homeless man begging for money.  I thought, “Okay, the woman will have a change of heart.”  The woman walked right past the man. 

            As I pondered the ending of the film, I thought about the societal issue.  Aside from the police shootings and the killings of African Americans in today’s world, this film represents the wealthy and the poor.  How can we consider ourselves human, if we can’t take the time out of our day to try and help someone?  My understanding of this film is the moral lesson of treating everyone with respect and how you would want to be treated.  The director made it seem like the woman was going to help the beggar, but I was let down, and if you will, disappointed, because I see this every day in my daily life.