Brilliant Script, Surprising Performances, Unforgettable Moments

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2006)

I remember watching the TV commercials for "Crash" when the movie was still in theaters. The commercials emphasized Sandra Bullock, America's sweetheart, as a foul mouthed, mean spirited, rich, rigid, racist white woman, and Ludicrous as a witty, charismatic, black carjacker.
"Oh, no," I thought, "just what we need. More Hollywood Limousine Liberal one-dimensional pablum about how we should just all get along. Another 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.'" A funny thing happened, though. Many acquaintances, from a variety of backgrounds, approached me to urge me to see the film. They were moved by this movie in a way that I haven't seen people be moved by a movie in years.
Then, when "Crash" won the Academy Award for best picture, I thought, okay, I need to see this, even if just as a cultural artifact.
Boy, was I surprised. "Crash" was nothing like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," except in that it has a great cast.
The script is sharp and fast and literate. Characters manage to say memorable things without sounding artificial (for the most part.) I miss Joe Mankiewicz. I miss great scripts. "Crash" is a treat for fans of language.
The cast is just, plain, unbelievably fine. Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Tony Danza -- who would have guessed that these stars could have done the kind of intensely moving work that they do here? Matt Dillon gave a performance, and created a character, that I will simply never forget.
Don Cheadle, Ludicrous, and Loretta Devine are also great, but not as surprising, because they don't play against type. The actors playing a Persian shop keeper and his daughter, a locksmith ... Each performance is stunning, perfect, moving.
Terrence Howard ... what can I say? I'm running out of words. Terrence Howard was exquisitely moving.
Ryan Phillipe. Keith David.
Just, standing on my chair, applauding. This movie gave me a whole new appreciation of acting as a profession.
"Crash" consists of one stunning moment after another that wrenches both with its realness and its artistic merit. I've lived some of those moments: a father reassures his daughter with a tale of a protective cloak; a woman embraces someone whom she suddenly recognizes as a friend; a man says he doesn't want to apologize any more; a son tries to help his ill father.
Most movies would be lucky to create one such scene.
Some have argued that the movie is contrived. To those folks I'll report: movies *are* contrived. See, Matt Dillon is not actually a police officer ...
I didn't find one moment of "Crash" to be unbelievable. We've all had moments of coincidence that defied chance. That's why the word "synchronicity" exists.
Others objected that the movie is preachy. I've really got to wonder about the lives of the folks who found this movie preachy. I live in a very multicultural, multiracial world. Events like those in "Crash" happen in the world I inhabit. Unlikely allies do form. People do sell out. Deals are cut. Rescues are made, and lives are lost. How is depicting these realities on screen "preachy"? I'm wary of overuse of words like "preachy" and "manipulative" in film reviews. They tend to be used by people who like movies shot through gauze in the South of France where the only thing that happens is that Charlotte Rampling gazes off soulfully into the distance.
I think many, too, had a problem with what is on screen in "Crash." The white supremacist bad guy everyone is primed to hate is revealed to be a complex human being. Blacks are not depicted as blameless; some steal, are rude, and make racist comments. I think that that bit of reality will disturb some movie goers.
Some argued that the movie ends too neatly. I didn't see any neat ending. In the end, there is life, and there is death, and mere chance separates the two. The final sounds in the movie are a new racial confrontation beginning.
The film's sheer artistry, and its soundtrack, make all the horror it exposes bearable. This movie left me exhilarated. If we can produce movies like this, maybe we can learn to all just get along.