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BEST FILM I'VE SEEN SO FAR THIS YEAR!
by JimF (movies profile)
Nov 14, 2006
51
of
60 people found this review helpful
Racism is a ubiquitous condition in the United States. Only rarely these days does it appear in its most virulent forms, like when a swatzika is crudely spray painted on a Jew's home or a rope is tied in an intimidating noose on the branch of a tree in a black family's house. No, often it just rears its ugly head as a racial slur, a crude joke, a humiliating act, and even a left-handed compliment tainted with prejudice. It can even be found within an ethnic group, defined and marginalized by tints of a person's skin color. And sometimes it is a weed growing within, which in spite our best attempts to eradicate, keeps sprouting until it chokes the life of what is good in us. Racism keeps us in ignorance, it keeps us blind, it keeps us angry and uptight, but most of all, it keeps us living in fear. Racism can lead us to behaviors we may find abhorrent if we were on the outside looking in. Sometimes those behaviors lead us to tragedy, sometimes a Universal Force intervenes to avert us from such tragedy, and once in while, these behaviors will ultimately even lead us to redemption.
Such is the theme of "Crash" a montage of several interconnecting characters and stories taking place over a forty-eight hours during a Los Angeles December.
Directed and co-written by Paul Haggis, who wrote the nominated Oscar-winner Million Dollar Baby, it employs a very capable ensemble cast featuring Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock as an ambitious district attorney and his wife; Shaun Toub as a Iranian shop keeper; Michael Pena as a Latino locksmith; Don Cheadle and Jennifer Esposito as a couple of plain clothes detectives who are having an affair while also partners on the job; Terrence Dashon Howard and Thandie Newton as an upper middle class black couple; Matt Dillon and Ryan Philippe as two partnered uniformed police officers; and finally Larenz Tate and hip-hop star Ludicris, as a couple of black youths who prove that looks can indeed be deceiving. Added to these central characters is an assortment of Asians, Latinos, Indians and the rest of the racial spectrum that makes up Los Angeles, and to a larger extent, America.
All the performances are extraordinary. The biggest surprise is that Ludicrus can act. The second biggest surprise is Bullock can act. There is not one scene or character in the entire film that comes across as either contrived or manipulative. "Crash" is the real deal, unapologetic and un-preachy. And there is one particular scene that is the most intense I've ever seen since Uma Thurman was resuscitated in Pulp Fiction.
Crash is powerful, thought-provoking and emotionally draining. It is the best film I've seen so far this year. While this distinction may not necessaruly sustain by the end of December, it will remain one of the most important movies I've ever watched. For that reason, you have to see it.
Now.
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