One of last year's best

Rating: Null/10 (29 January 2006)

I recently rewatched this movie on DVD, having seen it months ago at the movie theatre. I'd forgotten just how very good it is. This is a type of story telling I really enjoy, thought provoking and non-linear, taking something as random as a car crash, then using it as the basis for weaving several apparently disparate story lines together. Intersecting lives showing the "butterfly wing" effect, how one event affects another in a chain reaction, until the tiny air movement of a butterfly's wing causes a hurricane.
I also love movies with an ensemble cast such as Crash has, not one huge star and a scattering of lesser mortals but a multitude of parts exploring a wide range of characters. Everyone here was excellent without exception. The film explores such diverse themes as ingrained racism, crime and corruption, the inadequacies of the health care system for the elderly, and family duty, against the backdrop of Los Angeles. It tries to show how none of us can live in isolation in the city, our lives are interdependent whether we like it or not, and, whatever our backgrounds, most of us are trying to find the same things in life; safety, security, a reasonable living. The movie also explores how the constant frustrations of life, and mis-communications can cause people to flip, from anger, fear, distrust and despair.
Matt Dillon's cop trying to care for his father, and Don Cheadle's cop trying to care for his mother, stood out for me, and Jennifer Esposito was very good in too small a part. Well worth a couple of hours of anyone's time.