Crash. I loved this film!

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2011)

Crash (2004). What an appropriate title for this movie. I loved watching this film. The storyline, character interactions, editing and direction were ingenious. I wanted to write a review without giving too much of the movie away, but found that hard to do once you start diving into the different directions this film takes. So not to take away the enjoyment of someone reading this post before watching the movie, I decided to focus this review on the theme, style, and techniques that the director/editor utilized in the film.
The theme of this film is centered on the style and structure of the film. This film incorporates many different characters and story lines that take place over the span of one day. Because of how each character intertwines with one another, the film was shot in a unique way. It gives the viewer the perception that while one event is happening in the movie, another is event is taking place at the same time.
The film incorporates what the film industry calls form cuts. This type of technique is often used to transition one scene into another by matching a similar shaped object to another shape in the next scene. For example, in the movie you will notice when Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) leaves the gun shop after the altercation between her father, Farhad (Shaun Toub) and the owner, she pushes the door of the shop to open. The scene then immediately jumps to (jump cut) to Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Peter (Larenz Tate) pushing open a door of a restaurant to exit. The film incorporates more of these types of form cut transitions.
Another technique utilized quite effectively was the musical score to emphasize important scenes. One scene that the director/editor used to heighten the emotional mood of the film was the scene with Officer Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Christine (Thandie Newton). Both of these actors did a superb job in their roles. Officer Ryan is a bigot cop who had an altercation with Christine the night before by improperly performing a search on her. Ironically, it is Officer Ryan that comes to Christine's aid and saves her life from a car crash. The music in this scene is very powerful. There are very few lyrics, and the ones sung are not in English. The actions of the characters, facial expressions and the body language of the characters, helps heighten the score. There are number of things going on in this segment of the film and the music gives the viewer the sense that something is about to happen, and the film delivers on this buildup.
Crash is a great film and makes you think about all the stereotypes that we have perceived in our mind. A really good line from Officer Ryan was that you think you know who you are, but that you really have no clue." When looking at movie themes, it is sometimes determined if a movie has a universal interest. I definitely feel that Crash fits this evaluation because of the movie topics on prejudice, stereotypes, relationship conflicts, and human trafficking. All of these things are still issues all over different parts of the world today.
I highly recommend watching this film. If you saw the film Traffic (2000) by Steven Sodenbergh, than you will enjoy Crash. They both are shot in similar ways by intersecting multiple story lines and characters together. Officer Ryan's comment that I spoke on earlier also applies to Traffic. While watching this film you will begin to see people's character change, some for the good and some for the bad. Check out the movie and have fun watching for the form cuts and dramatic musical score that I discussed. Enjoy!