A Los Angeles 'Wire' - good, but slightly over-rated

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2005)

'Crash' annoyed me to start from because it took the title of another film to remember by David Cronnenberg. It succeeds to be a different and interesting film however, so from now on we will need to say this 'Crash' or that 'Crash'.
The film is built as a puzzle of loosely coupled stories, around the theme of the attitude of common people in their approach to people belonging to other communities, in the multi-racial Los Angeles of today. The mix technique is interesting, although if you carefully analyze it we have already seen it used in other films, one good example being the excellent HBO series 'The Wire'. Each of the individual stories has a moral theme, based on how initial judgment and race-based stereotyping can prove to be wrong - in the eyes of the characters, but also of the viewers.
It's an interesting movie, although neither the script is that original, nor the racial theme approach is that crisply approached. It god very good critical feedback, maybe slightly better than it really deserves. At some points I had the feeling of manipulation, especially when world music was brought to help and channel feelings in the more pathetic scenes. Still, the overall sensation is of a well constructed puzzle, like life itself, or if you want like the diversified society it describes.
One final remark, the whole cast is very good, but Matt Dillon is the best in the role of a racist cop, who proves to be much more complex and very different from what the spectator may originally think.