Powerful and emotionally-gripping Film-making

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2009)

People keep bagging Crash on how unrealistic the characters are and how unprobable the plot is, with 'unprobable' coincidences. I don't disagree on that this movie is very unrealistic and very unprobable, but what I do disagree on is bagging on this movie. This is a very fine film because it absorbs and captures the viewer from the very start. The first moments of Crash shows a middle-aged Asian woman and a Mexican woman ripping each others heads off with REALLY racist comments, which makes us go insane and hate these characters, but the point to be considered is that THIS FILM DOES MAKE US GO INSANE AND HATE THESE CHARACTERS. Any film to make us feel attached and absorbed into itself is a very well done one, even if it were to use outlandish and ridiculously fake dialogue; kudos to Paul Haggis for writing such an amazing screenplay.
In the most intense moments of the film, which there are a plenty, swelling music DROWNS the viewer and even as corny as it sounds, it absolutely works. You become so involved in what's happening on screen, but the gift of this film is the entire time the viewer is aware that he is not in the film. The viewer is so aware he is not in the film because he wishes he WAS in the film, screaming and ecstatic at these very flawed yet human characters. Crash takes a hold of your emotions, and tosses it around on-screen, making you fear the worst for the radically unstable and unpredictable film.
Why do people hate this film so much? Not many movies do what Crash does, not many movies make you feel what Crash makes you feel. It's a movie that makes us examine ourselves and others around us; there should be not a single person that walks out of this movie with no emotions, whether it be hating this film or loving it; either way, Crash succeeds.