Crash

The new year, unfortunately did not start as smoothly as I had hoped. I fell sick on the 1st itself! I'm guessing it was the influenza bug. Was laid low with high fever, a congested throat and an acceptable amount of phlegm. Did feel a bit better over the last couple of days, so my flatmates brought home a couple of movies. 'Crash' happened to be one of them, so I was immediately interested. I had heard very good things about this film.

The movie was better than I had expected. 'Crash' takes an unflinching, head on and sensitive look at the state of racism in America today, post 9/11 and Iraq. People are scared, confused and misguided. Not many are free today in the 'land of liberty'. Paul Haggis, uses the same formula he tried in 'Magnolia' to tell this story. Five or six different stories run parallely, each with different characters, who keep colliding into each other, thus giving racism a chance to raise its ugly head. The movie has a deeper message though. It drives home the point that we all carry some misunderstandings with us much longer than necessary. It also sensitively shows how essentially good people are capable of despicable deeds and even the not so holy can sometimes be your only helping hand. The only minor drawback I felt it contained was that that it didn't offer any solution. The film just leaves us with the problem, but does such a great job of it, that the view alone leaves you spellbound.

The acting is first rate. Don Cheadle, Matt Dillion, Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Terence Howard and Ryan Phillipe are do a fantastic job. The movie also has one of the most memorable opening lines in a long time. A must watch!

4/5

Cheers!
Abhishek.