Wonderfully Nuanced Treatise on Racism

Rating: 10/10 (8 September 2005)

This is an exceptional film on all levels. Technically it is masterful. The filming is exceptional. The acting is top notch all the way through. There is a lot of very deep, but suppressed emotion, in the acting. There were no weak performances throughout this film. There was one scene that perhaps could have been edited a little more tightly, but that is a genuinely trivial complaint. This film really hit the mark with me.
Structurally, this film is very close to "Short Cuts" by Robert Altman, which is also a favorite of mine. This tells the interwoven stories of an ensemble cast of characters as they face the frustrations of daily living. Racism isn't black and white. Interspersed throughout the film are the multiple nuanced facets of racism in all of their ugly shades of grey. There is no overt KKK-style racism here. It's all about the subtle assumptions that we make of people based on their appearance. Sometimes those assumptions are correct, but wrong. Sometimes they are wrong, but correct.
This is a brilliant screenplay. Sure there are some coincidences that are quite unlikely, but they are there to contribute to the point of the stories, so that level of poetic license is quite alright with me. It didn't detract from the message.
There are so many wonderful actors and performances in this movie that it is unfair to pick out one out. However, I thought Don Cheadle - whose acting I am always admired - had the best performance of his career. His ability to convey emotion through expression was just plain exceptional.
It takes a truly exceptional movie to impress me enough to earn a 10 of 10. This is just such a movie.