A Menagerie of Raw Human Emotion

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2005)

In the first scene of this film, Don Cheadle says, among other profound things, "I think we just crash into each other, just to feel something." This short quote, in actuality, sums up the entire point that the filmmakers were trying present. In the sleepy city of Los Angeles, the viewers are taken on a wild ride - perhaps a corny simile, noting the title - in the lives of numerous, nameless souls, all lost and confused. We see the lives of racial minorities living in the back alley slums of the city, and in the next scene, the lives of rich bigot whites. By the end of the film, we realize that whether black or white or rich or poor, we are all looking for answers, and that, although we do not realize it, those answers lie in the most unlikely people around us. A menagerie of raw human emotion - fear, anger, sadness, joy, and above all, dysphoria. Although it seems like quite a list to take on in one film, perhaps too long, Crash tackles them all with both open-mindedness and subtle restraint, in only 113 minutes. It took Magnolia three hours, and believe me, Crash leaves Magnolia in the dust. This wild ride of a film - by the end of it, the viewer will have crashed into the truth of their own lives, going home to their beds, popcorn stuck in their back molars, stunned - and emotionally drained.