Best of 2005!!!

Rating: 10/10 (30 October 2007)

There haven't been many impressive films of 2005, but this one is beyond exceptional. Moving! Captivating! Engaging! Tear-jerking! Extraordinary! I can give nothing but high marks for this film. It covers a thirty-six hour range of every day individuals of different ethnic backgrounds and day-to-day struggles, who knock in and out of each other's lives. It is an exploration of a roller coaster of emotions involving racial tensions and poverty, (which play a big part in the film and in our society), personal, conflicting inner struggles of what's right and wrong, and the violent actions that lead to consequences.
The story starts with an aftermath of several people who are involved in a multi-car accident. From that point, the film goes back thirty-six hour before the crash, revealing the lives of several characters, and the problems each of them encounter during that day. An LAPD cop (Matt Dillon) is trying to get medical help for his father, but he is having problems with a black HMO clerk who won't give his father permission to see another doctor. He in turn takes out his frustration on a black couple during a traffic stop (Thandie Newton and Terrence Howard). A socialite (Sandra Bullock) and District Attorney (Brandon Fraser) are carjacked at gunpoint by two black teenagers (Ludacris and Larenz Tate). Sandra takes out her anger on a Mexican locksmith (Michael Pena) who is changing the door locks to their home. Later that night, the locksmith is again robbed of his dignity by a Persian store-owner (Shuan Toab) who decides to take matters into his own hands. Many of the characters switch from being bad-person-to-hero in ways that are surprising and shocking.
All these little plots and many more blend together and kept me interested for the two hours. It made me laugh, cry, and sometimes paralyzed. It is unlike any other movie I have seen. The all-star cast made the film believable, unlike a soap opera which was my original expectation of this film.
The music score was haunting and emotionally driven (very much like Michael Mann's Heat). The script of the movie is brilliant. The movie jumped around a bit, but the editing is done very creatively, not making me confused at all. The cinematography is beautiful. And above all each cast members' performance made the film on a major success! Crash is easily the best film of 2005! Underneath our aggression, wickedness, and sarcasm, we are all human, and no one is higher or better than another whether by race, belief, or class. ***** out of *****