Isolation & Prejudice

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2007)

This movie about people (meaning you and me) is brilliantly structured. The difficult task of blending multiple stories into a convincing whole without any trace of artificiality or exaggerated sentimentality is an admirable achievement.Life as it is with the increasing tendency of present-day man to isolate himself and hide behind prejudices towards others as a form of survival in a mad, mad world. Not a moralizing or judgemental approach as to what we are as human beings but an illustration of the complex aspects of our nature and how easily good can turn to bad and vice versa. Our narrow-minded outlook on the world around us and how easily we debase individuals by defining them as belonging to an inferior class or race is the main theme on which the movie is based. The issue however is not that simple and the most important aspect of this movie is that it sees things as they really are: our urban environment and our personal experiences with people in general do not encourage real confidence in our fellow man. There remains however a glimmer of hope and the message "Crash" conveys is that by gaining insight into the fact that our attitudes in general are based more on the unforeseen and casual incidents we experience in everyday life than on our so-called deep convictions, we could (possibly) become better people.A lot of reviews consider the movie weak due to its radical and therefore limited analysis of racism in general and that it focuses too often on a form of cheap emotional content. But let's be honest: isn't that precisely the only way most people in the real world function?