brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (28 May 2005)

I have never ever seen a real movie like this. This hits you like a religious experience. At first, the race dialog seems ripped from the Spike Lee preaching book but the dialog has purpose, and that purpose is realized when the characters CRASH into one another. You just sympathize and emote and the last hour is just packed with heartbreakingly beautiful scenes. The scene between Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton is just so kinetic and intense and the scene with the Persian shopkeeper and the Latino locksmith was INCREDIBLE. If I was in church that would have brought me to my knees. That connection between people and pain and that silence was just so........real. The vibrancy is built from the vulnerability of the characters and their inability to truly change the situation but the worth of their questioning is noted. Don Cheadle bristles like a man on fire throughout this movie. You just vibe and you vibe and you vibe. No characters are given quarter. Ludicrous' idealistic robber is shown for his brilliance and his ignorance. That is what this is about. It is about everyone being imperfect and how perspective is so important to the situation. The characters CRASH and what remains is just so real to what humanity is that I think that Haggis is some kind of prophet ahead of his time. America is not ready for such an honest piece of art.