A triumph for Haggis

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2005)

This is a movie which has nothing in common with the controversial 1996 Cronenberg work of the same title. Instead it can be compared with "Grand Canyon" and "Magnolia" in that all three films feature a series of interlocking stories in a California setting. Here Paul Haggis - who wrote the rightly acclaimed "Million Dollar Baby" - makes his directorial debut with a film which he also conceived and co-wrote by presenting a set of linked lives in Los Angeles over a two-day period. The is a city in which estranged and fearful people crash into one another both physically and metaphorically.
So far, so relatively familiar. What really distinguishes this work, however, is the complex and controversial theme of race. The so-called American melting pot is shown to be a boiling cauldron of multiple tensions and prejudices, whether it is the Iranian shopkeeper who despises the Mexican locksmith or it is the girlfriend of the black policeman who objects to him calling her Mexican, when her parents are from Puerto Rica and El Salvador, to the same woman who mocks an aggressive Chinese woman for her poor pronunciation of English. This is a complicated world in which a good cop can find himself committing a terrible act, while his racist colleague can discover himself behaving heroically with the last person who would expect or want that.
Of course, the plotting is contrived, but the whole of cinema is contrived which is what distinguishes storytelling from straight documentary. This is an intelligent and compelling narrative which constantly demands attention and, once it is all over, provokes much thought. We are shown that the world is not colour-coded and we need to take the time and trouble to understand who people really are. The ensemble acting by a host of capable performers is a delight, whether it is Sandra Bullock appearing against type as an angry and prejudiced housewife, Matt Dillon as a racist but brave policeman, Don Cheadle as a detective trying to balance the conflicting pressures of career and family, or Thandie Newton who wants her husband to be braver in standing against racial injustice, or the many other strong supporting roles.