Do not miss it

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2005)

Before seeing this movie I had never heard of Paul Haggis. Now, if he puts his name to a movie as far as I'm concerned they won't need to advertise it. The plot revolves around the lives of separate groups of people living in Los Angeles whose paths cross in part because of car accidents. We start in the present day and the movie takes us back to show us how things came to be. There are many parallels between this movie and Amores Perros. However, unlike Amores Perros where there is no apparent point, Crash examines attitudes towards race and how it affects people's behavior. The characters are as varied as the sub-plots. There are cops and robbers, rich and poor, oppressors and oppressed, "good" and "bad", men and women from different races and walks of life.
The magic is in the fact that you find yourself judging the characters by what they do in a scene, but as the movie progresses, you find there are no sinners, there are no saints, there are no neat little boxes you can fit people in to. The very act of judging and categorizing denies how just plain complicated life really is. You'll leave this movie feeling good about life and your fellow man.
As someone who lives and works in LA I found the characters very believable. All the actors are wonderful and Sandra Bullock is specially so. This movie made me see her in a different light. A genuinely great actress with a deep side that you would never expect from all the trite trash she has been starring in. More movies like this one please Ms. Bullock. All credit to Mr. Haggis as scriptwriter for the wonderful natural dialogue and as director for making you relate to the characters as real people and not the usual manufactured personalities.
10/10 Excellent