Great movie

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2010)

Created in 2004, Crash was written and directed by Paul Haggis. Crash starts out with a simple wreck and ends up in bloodshed. All of this is due to prejudice, and stereotypes. The movie follows seven interlaced stories. Crash showed how prejudice and stereotypes affects people, and how these misconceptions are started. Throughout the movie, the characters crash into each other, some metaphorically, and others literally. The movie starts with Jennifer Esposito, who plays Ria, getting crashed into by an Asian lady. There happens to be a crime scene near which then sparks a flashback to the day before. Sandra Bullock plays the scared spoiled wife of a politician, Jean. Jean and her husband Rick where was held at gunpoint and carjacked by two African American men, Anthony, and Peter. Anthony and Peter run over an Asian man getting out of his white van while joyriding Jean and Rick's black SUV. One of the carjackers, Peter, was the brother of a detective named Graham, who was played by Don Cheadle. Jean had her locks changed after having her car stolen, and did not like how the locksmith named Daniel looked. When Daniel, who is played by Michael Pena, tries unsuccessfully to fix a lock on a broken door for a shop owner, the shop owner gets angry. Farhad, the shop owner, decides to take matters into his own hands to make Daniel responsible for his shop getting broke into and robbed. He ends up shooting at Daniel's kid, but did not kill her, because his daughter Dorri, who is played by Bahar Soomekh, loaded the gun with blanks. Anthony later went back and stole the Asian's white van, and found out there was a bunch of people being smuggled in the back of the van. He ended up doing the right thing and letting them go. Noticing the same kind of car that was stolen from Rick and Jean, the cops pull over a director and his wife. Ryan, a racist cop, and his rookie partner Hansen pull them over. Ryan molests the wife while the husband cannot do anything. Hansen picked up Peter when he hitchhiked and he ended up shooting Peter when he thought Peter was pulling out a gun. The story laces in many characters to the story line. The only other movie I can think of that jumped around this successfully was Premonition. In 2007, Sandra Bullock also plays in Premonition. Like Premonition, Crash jumps around, but it does so with a purpose.
One of the techniques that were very well carried out in this film was the transitions. The film had seamless transitions between scenes. Since the movie had so many stories going at once, good transitions were very important when switching between stories.
Another technique that was well implemented was lighting. Even though some scenes were dark, you could still see the characters perfectly. The light hit even the rain drops and accented them perfectly.
Crash was a very moving movie that really makes one think about there own prejudices. It has a very large and great cast. It is a very well written and edited movie. Crash is a very moving and insightful movie.
References Haggis, P. (2004). Crash Motion picture. United States: Lions Gate Films.