A good but obvious movie, about things that needed to be said, and that too NOW

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 2006)

First of all, it is of course no coincidence that this movie was released now. Or that it won the Oscars now. One should not forget the timing factor, even for the Oscars. There are few absolute Oscar movies, and lots of relative ones. And I think Crash is one of the later. Given 9/11 and the subsequent unfolding of worldwide events, these were things that had to be said and they had to be said NOW. Even if they are obvious things.
There is no story in this movie, yes. The only binding factor among the disparate characters/lifestyles/sets is racism, and how it impacts one's daily life. This movie is, simply put, a one-idea movie. It deals exclusively with racism, or, even better, racist stereotyping. If you find this boring, stern or limiting, then this movie is indeed not for you.
Racism. The storyline may not be one that is easily foreseeable, but the typologies so well enacted by the actors are of the commonly identifiable, black and white type (no pun intended): the "Arab" shop-owner immigrants, the Latinos, the high-class black family, the street-smart black guys, the well-balanced politician, the lonely black cop, the xenophobe cop, the successful but neglected wife and so on.
And then there comes racist stereotyping, which is in fact the main "character" of the movie. This one also comes in all possible shades: the stereotyping arising out of ignorance, the one out of hurry, laziness or absent-mindedness, or just simply out of habit. Some characters in the movie are questioning their own actions, others just act blindly. But like most of us (wild assumption), many of the characters are very much aware of their stereotyping, yet they act on it out of a fuzzy sense of fear that we have rooted deep within: better to be safe than sorry.
It's almost as if you can see the people behind this screenplay brainstorming and writing down all possible ideas, scenes, typologies and characters as they pop up. "what about adding a Latino...what about some Arabs...or some alienated rich black guy" and what about this and that.
But going beyond racist behaviors arising out of common stereotypes, the movie traces down in a sometimes funny and imaginative way their most unlikely roots. And so it goes about depicting things that go close to how -one thing following another in a chain reaction manner- a tight shoe can lead to murder. And at the end of the movie, to twist it even more, in a very obvious attempt to explore all imaginable facets of the issue, even the good guy turns bad and the bad guy turns good.
Appearance is smashed into pieces and reality, ugly as it can be, is reconstructed with them. The movie is intended to be a collage with a message. But by no means does this make it less palatable or watchable. Anyone who is able to follow a basic Discovery documentary will find no difficulty in following the thread. Reviews calling Crash as "unwatchable" are simply out of range. And those who claim it's just plain morbid are rather naive.
Yes, it's not the usual movie directing. It does take on the form of a semi-documentary on purpose, precisely to highlight the everydayness of it all. No matter how quirkily the events unfold or how didactically this movie is made, one cannot help to ponder over the issues and recognize ones every-day self in it.
All in all, Crash is a well-crafted piece of cinema, with good casting and good acting. It is no doubt a good movie. It might not enthrall you, it might not enlighten you in any way. Yet, it somehow works.