Intrigueing look at racism in Los Angeles

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2005)

What this film does that others haven't in the past is have the subject of racism brought to the forefront from the perspective of all the characters and how small things that occur can have a major impact even with those who are not directly involved. Story is about how several characters living in the Los Angeles area deal with racism and how it effects their lives and everyone around them including a black cop named Graham (Don Cheadle) who is sleeping with his female partner Ria (Jennifer Esposito) but has no idea of which Latin descent she's from.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Other characters involve a district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his wife (Sandra Bullock) and how they deal with being carjacked from two black men (Ludacris & Larenz Tate) who have their own perspective of things. A white racist cop named Ryan (Matt Dillon) harasses a black couple (Terrence Howard & Thandie Newton) while his disgusted partner Hanson (Ryan Phillippe) looks on and an Iranian store owner has his business looted and blames the Hispanic locksmith.
This is made by Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby) who makes his directorial debut with this effort and not only does his script cover all the bases but his attention to detail is at times overwhelming. In my perfect film world this would be considered the normal attempt in making a film but instead audiences are used to wading through about 10 or so bad films before finally viewing something thought provoking such as this. As much as I respected this film I still came away thinking that it was flawed in some manner and I think what hurts this is that there is just too many characters and events being tossed at the viewer. Even so, Haggis's effort deserves praise not only in what he's trying to achieve but by pushing the right buttons and provoking the audience with a subject that (let's face it) makes everyone uncomfortable. Haggis has emerged as a true talent and an important artist and he seems to be one of those writer/directors who even if he fails he'll still create something that's worth everyone's time.