Beautiful movie

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2006)

Crash is one of the best films of 2005. In my view, it is not so much a racial film as it is a picture of a cosmopolitan city with all the problems associated with them including crime, corruption, alienation and racism. We see a number of different people - some blatantly racist, like Matt Dillon. Others are the victim of racism - like Terence Howard and Thandie Newton as his wife. Others, like the Iranian store-owner, just happen to be victims of their own limited communication skills.
There are various ways this film can be read and a number of messages implied from the various sub-plots. At the end they all preach tolerance and humanity if we are to lead civilised lives as part of a diverse community.
What makes this film superb is the calibre of acting. There are a number of known faces all giving solid performance. There is no single star. Its very much an ensemble piece with nicely fleshed out characterisations and plots which intertwine neatly in the end to show how everything is related. I rate this higher than that other great ensemble piece Robert Altman's Shortcuts because the characters are more fully developed.