Racism is an injustice from which humanity suffers. Ignorance of other people's cultures and lifestyles is the incitement to provincial thinking and it causes strain amongst the people placed on this planet. And sometimes it is necessary for events to occur in order to shake up our worldview and perception of our human brotherhood. And Crash is an essay on that shakedown of perception. Involving one of my favorite tools of storytelling, an ensemble of characters creating a complex plot, this film features some of the best ensemble and method actors of this generation of filmmaking including Terence Howard, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Phillippe, Brenden Frasier and William Fichtner.
Misunderstandings beget mistrust as several different stories deal with the provincial prejudices of people in a post-9/11 Los Angeles. Multiple story-lines interweave telling the clash of white cops versus the different "colored" people they pull over, affirmative action workforce, immigrant service workers versus their employers, persecution against middle eastern Americans and the general landscape of urban society. And this film both inspires us to put aside our differences and also show some tolerance for things we are not used to or that is new to us.
My favorite is the story between Thandie Newton's celebrity wife and Matt Dillon's police officer. Their story begins with Matt Dillon's character and partner pulling over Newton's husband for questionable behavior while driving and the situation gets uncomfortable for all concerned, including the audience, as it's supposed to. The police lets them go with a warning, but she meets him again the next morning when she's been involved in a traffic collision and he's the only one that can save her and, with persuasion, she lets him.
This film is an opera, with a chorus for each of us, prodding us to release our prejudice, our pride in ourselves, to look outside our doors and help our neighbors, to get to know them and to break bread and bond with our human brothers because we're all worthy of life. And the song is sung with finesse.
****
IN: Don Cheadle
Out: Ryan Phillippe
Coming Soon: Dangerous Liaisons/Cruel Intentions
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