Crash (Widescreen Edition) | Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock

Crash (Widescreen Edition) | Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock | So real to life...

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Crash (Widescreen ...

	Crash (Widescreen Edition) Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock Lions Gate Films, 2005 average customer review:based on 995 reviews view larger image
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This compelling urban thriller tracks the volatile intersection of a multiethnic cast of characters struggling to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of one another's lives. In the gray area between black and white victim and aggressor during the next 36 hours the will all collide.System Requirements: Running Time 122 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 031398179382 Manufacturer No: 17938

What We Perceive

It's a real case of beginner's luck for first-time director Paul Haggis. Having already scored an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Million Dollar Baby), Haggis takes the director's chair for this project and scores a big hit, one which won him Best Picture of 2005. With an all-star cast, a haunting score by Mark Isham and a thought-provoking screenplay, "Crash" is a bold tapestry of humankind at their best and worst and the circumstances that eventually connect them all are a wonder to behold.

All events within the film take place in a mere 24 hours (what a difference a day makes, eh?) with five different stories set in the melting pot of melting pots: Los Angeles, CA. The film opens and ends with a fender bender (hence the title) and the delicate issue of bigotry is dealt with a mighty blow here, a series of life-altering events affecting and eventually connecting all of the following people:

1) a black detective (Cheadle) and his Latino partner (Esposito)
2) two young black felons (Ludacris, Tate)
3) a white district attorney (Fraser) and his wife (Bullock)
4) a Persian shop owner (Toub) and his family
5) a Latino locksmith (Pena)
6) two white LA police officers (Dillon, Philippe)
7) an affluent black television producer (Howard) and his wife (Newton)

How are all these people connected, you ask? Well, if you've ever seen "Traffic", you'll get an idea of how each character manages to intersect the other in an odd "six degrees of separation". There are four different stories happening all at once that will culminate at the end. This is one of the many intriguing ways in which Haggis ties everything together into a coarse and pragmatic patchwork of life in these biased United States.

Crash's biggest accomplishment comes from the manner in which it realigns its characters' perceptions by imposing life-altering situations upon them, incidents which change them for either the better or the worse. While watching the characters' reactions to their environment, the audience is often forced to examine some of their own perceptions and "Crash" reveals time and again the bitter truth behind the majority of America's skewed philosophy.

Don Cheadle is excellent as Graham, a man who struggles constantly with the meager symmetry of justice. Matt Dillon is intriguing as Officer Ryan, a cop whose motives can be hard to determine but whom experience has given an inarguable wisdom. Bullock manages to play a character that's easy to hate, a pampered suburban wife who doesn't realize who her true friends are until she's literally crying out for help, one whom she least expects. Terrence Howard is remarkable as a television producer whose educated wife (Newton) harangues him about life's everyday prejudices after they are pulled over in a routine traffic stop in a wealthy neighborhood by two white cops. He is frustrated and angry with her but when he begins to see the fine lines of racism suddenly and heavily bleed into his life, he at first denies it, then proceeds into self-loathing and hatred. He eventually forgives his wife and comes to terms with various other people for their misgivings. Ryan Philippe impresses as the morally compromised Officer Hanson - there is a shocking moment in which he is truly tested on his obligations as an officer of the law and in that moment becomes the most hypocritical character of, despite having made perfectly clear his moral dilemma in the beginning. Most everyone else walks on and walks off but there isn't a bad performance to be had here (not even from hip-hop star Ludacris) and this ensemble cast makes the most of everything they've got.

Bottom line: There should be no argument as to what film has made the most impact in 2005 - one viewing of "Crash" will have you voting in its favor, hands down.

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So real to life...

This is one of the most realistic movies I have seen in a long time. The whole storyline of the characters all collide over twenty-four hours because of racism & stereotypes.

I had to watch this movie for a final in one of my college classes. I don't consider myself a racist person at all, but after watching this movie I think it is hard to believe you have never had thoughts like some of the characters in the movie.

If you haven't seen this movie, see it!!! It will def. give you a new perspective on a lot of things & really open your eyes to what life is really like!!

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The Most Thought-Provoking Movie

I would rank this movie as one of the very best that I've seen in years. How many movies present BOTH sides of a story in such a manner that it makes you wonder about your own perceptions? It seems to me that people who scored the movie very low are either extremely stubborn and don't want to "walk a mile in some else's shoes", just don't like to think while watching a movie, or living in a fantasy world where there are no problems. The whole point of the movie is that we stereotype cultures other than our own...so, of course, the characterizations are stereotypical!

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Anti-racism resource

This is a terrific movie that addresses the issue of racism in our country. It has a good cast, including Sandra Bullock and Don Cheadle, two of my favorites. It's not what I'd call a blockbuster oscar-quality flick, but it's a socially relevant movie in ways that those kind of movies often aren't.

This should be a must see for any type of anti-racist training. Although some may say that this movie is too stereotypical, its realism will strike home and give us more than a little food for thought that may actually convict us, if we're lucky.

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