not the worst film of the century at all, in fact very interesting

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2005)

I was prepared not to like this film, since I usually dislike films that have received a lot of acclaim, finding them overrated. However, I found this film surprisingly interesting, if not flawless. Ludicrus put in one of the best performances I felt, presenting a fascinating character. Somewhere on this board a user suggests that his actions in the film are not supported by character development, whereas I would argue that the timescale of the narrative (which presents snapshots of interlinking lives over a controlled timespan, i think just a couple of days) precluded any real character development anyway; rather characters were shown to be multi-faceted at any given time. The character played by Matt Dillon was also well constructed and interesting. I didn't feel the film to be Hollywoodish, and was rather well put together. It was commendably open-ended, too, although I would balk at those who draw the simplistic conclusion that 'racism goes two ways' - racism has, in fact, a distinct and persistently meaningful cultural history that cannot be reduced to such a formula (racism has been used to exploit, enslave and murder on a grand scale and spanning centuries, and is not equable to xenophobia). However, if those who would draw comfort from said simplistic analysis spend time with this film, they could do far worse. All in all, an evening well spent at the cinema.