2008 Woodie Awards
In Review
We crash into each other just to feel
Issue date: 10/6/05 Section: Opinion
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Guest Writer
Picture present-day Los Angeles. Imagine 13 racially different people. The movie Crash centers around the lives of these characters as they encounter each other, exposing their interactions based on their own prejudices. The opening lines by Detective Graham (Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda) reveal the basic theme of the movie: "In any real city, you walk, you know, you brush past people. People bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, we crash into each other just so we can feel something."
The movie begins with a car crash, but then rewinds back to the day before. From there, the film is a circle of interactions between the 13 characters. It reminded me of the movie, Love Actually (2003) because scene after scene is a seemingly random depiction of each character's life.
The director, writer and producer of Crash, Paul Haggis, does a great job weaving the characters together without the relationships feeling forced.
The film has big stars such as Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser, who play a well-to-do married couple; Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe as cops; Jennifer Esposito, who plays another detective; and Chris "Ludicris" Bridges as a street thief. But while I was watching the movie, I didn't see the actors; I saw the characters. Even though that is the obvious goal, the roles are played out so well that I barely noticed who was playing them. The intent of the director must have been to make the viewer reflect on his or her own thoughts and actions towards people from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The film is rated R for strong language and some nudity. But the dialogue is real; it never feels like the writer put the strong language in the script for no apparent reason.
The cinematography is nothing new, but most scenes are shot at night and a blue hue is present, which helps to create the needed atmosphere. The music, written by Mark Isham, also helps create the serious, thought-provoking mood.
Watching the film moved me to think. I sat there, as the credits rolled, and thought about my interactions with racially different people even on this campus. Ever since, I've actually thought more about my own prejudices and what to do with them. I recommend this movie to those who like to think, and to those who want to think before they act.
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