“It’s the sense of touch… in any other city you walk ya know, you brush past people. People bump into you. In LA no one touches you you’re always behind some metal and glass…It’s the sense of touch I think we miss that sense of touch so much that we crash into each other so that we can feel something…”
This is how Don Cheadle opens the movie. Mr. Cheadle begins waxing ecstatic about how people in LA miss the sense of touch. This metaphor runs throughout Crash (film by Paul Haggis). Last year Mr. Haggis was honored with a nomination for best screenplay for his work on Million Dollar Baby. I got to see a sneak preview last week and I was very impressed with this movie. If you like movies like Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia then this film is the one for you. Crash takes place over 24 hours in LA and is filled with many different moments where characters intersect or touch each other’s lives.
After the initial car accident that starts the movie, we are flashed back to the day before and introduced to a Lebanese immigrant who in his best-broken English is trying to buy a gun. This scene was the first indicator that this film would be about race. The exchange between the gun shop owner and the Arab looking man breaks down into racial banter between the two men and is resolved with the help of the immigrant’s western educated daughter. We are then introduced to two black men (played by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Larenz Tate) discussing their treatment in a restaurant in an upscale part of town. After going on and on about how they were mistreated by the black waitress they proceed to car jack the district attorney and his wife (played by Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock). There’s a scene that runs parallel to this one where a black man (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) are stopped and then violated by the police (one in particular played by Matt Dillon). I could tell you more but that would only ruin it.
This movie is packed with stars and great performances. I’ve never seen a movie where race and power were used so honestly. How can you not love a race movie set in Post 9/11 LA? Crash is one of those movies that attempts to make a statement about race relations in this country and tries to give equal time to all ethnic groups.
There were some running themes that the writer/director beat to death and here are a few of them:
· “Playing ball” or what some may call going along with something to get along. There’s a scene where Terrace Howard plays a director of a popular TV show after shooting a scene his producer played by a disheveled Tony Danza asks him to shoot it again cause one of his characters wasn’t black enough. At first Howard is insulted but then he turns around and shoots the scene. Don Cheadle is amazing in this film in his role as a cop with demons. In one scene he’s faced with a choice of doing the right thing or getting a promotion.
· “All races abuse power.” In one scene Keith David plays a superior officer to Ryan Phillippe’s character and manages to turn the screws on him. Loretta Devine also manages to do the same to Matt Dillon in another scene.
This is an interesting and thoughtful piece of work. Granted it can be a little over dramatic at times but I think that’s because Mr. Haggis used to write for TV. Overall this manages to take risks and still deliver a coherent message. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it an 8.
Crash hits theaters May 6th.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I absolutely loved this movie. I saw it one day with my friends, and it was so amazing that I went back 2 days later to see it with my husband. I love the way all of the prejudices and stereotypes are confronted. I also love the diverse, recognizable, and extremely talented cast who made this story seem like reality. All in all, I must say that I hadn’t enjoyed a movie this much in a long time…
Seeing as this movie is about Race & Ethnicity and it’s relationship with people i think it might be helpful if the reviewer got the ethnicity of 1 of the main characters correct.
“After the initial car accident that starts the movie, we are flashed back to the day before and introduced to a “Lebanese” immigrant who in his best-broken English is trying to buy a gun. This scene was the first indicator that this film would be about race. The exchange between the gun shop owner and the “Arab” looking man breaks down into racial banter between the two men and is resolved with the help of the immigrant’s western educated daughter. ”
First of all the man trying to buy the gun at the pawn shop is Persian (also known as Iranian. From the country Iran also known as Persia) not Lebanese. People who are Lebanese are “Arabic” and many of the parts of the movie show the man or the family conveying that they are not “Arabic” so i am surpised that the reviewer missed that part of the movie. It’s just like when Don Cheadle’s character calls the police officer Mexican and she has to inform him that she is not Mexican but in fact Puerto Rican and another latin mix.
Great review if we could just get some key concepts correct.
When the young girl asked the gun store owner for her money or the gun and then for bullets does anyone else know that she has no clue that the bullets were blanks. In my sociology class they believed she did know, but if that were the case why was she so relieved when she found that her father didn’t kill the little girl. Or why would someone with any sense buy a gun for protection and fill it with blanks???