Central to the marketing campaign of Seven Pounds has been its mystery. Watching its trailer, we aren't quite given the key to its story. In interviews about the film, its actors have been less than forthcoming about its details. But as Will Smith's character Ben Thomas tells us in its trailer, "In seven days, God created the world. And in seven seconds, I shattered mine." As Rosario Dawson said in an interview with Good Morning America, at least one way you can look at the title of the movie is as a reference to the guilt Ben carries with him following the event that shattered his world. And by the end of the movie, let's just say the exact meaning of "seven pounds" could be drawn from at least several different aspects of the event that changed Ben's life before the movie begins, or the one that will change it even more before the movie ends.

A film that begins at its end then goes back to show us how its characters got there, Seven Pounds opens with Ben's 911 call to report his own suicide. The question is: How did he get there? Will he actually go through with it? And if he does or doesn't, why? The answer—a bit of guilt, a bit of love, a plan that really isn't as complex or mysterious as the trailer makes it out to be; and in a string of films that seems to be piling up more sacrificial heroes than the summertime superhero rush, we have yet another take on guilt, redemption, and the freeing power of sacrifice.

More than just a pay-it-forward tale of goodwill or a reluctant hero's evolution from indifference to compassion, Ben's story is one that takes root in his guilt. All it takes to be summoned to the surface is his tortured repetition of seven names that he knows by heart. When it shows its face and reaches out its hands, its reign is one of self-destruction and hate. And even as it lies below the surface, its weight is one of week-long naps and listless routine.

But somewhere between his rage and his depression, Ben formulates a plan to do something about his guilt. Through a series of phone calls and encounters, we are able to gather that Ben has taken it upon himself to help people endure some form of suffering. There's the single mother being abused by her boyfriend (Elpidia Carrillo) and the blind telemarketer who cannot be provoked (Woody Harrelson). There's the inspiring hockey coach (Bill Smitrovich) and the tireless social worker (Judyann Elder). And then there's Emily Posa (Dawson), the young woman suffering from congenital heart failure.

A tax collector, Ben sits across from Emily at her kitchen table and lays out exactly how much she owes the IRS. It is a huge sum, one we know would be difficult to pay regardless, nearly impossible to pay alongside medical bills. And then with one word, Ben gives her a significant break. As he says of another one of his files, "It is within my power to drastically change his circumstances." The question is: Will he? And in a world where our burdens are about much more than just money, is that all he has up his sleeve?

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