Crash

“In LA no-one touches you……………..
We’re always behind metal and glass.
Think we miss that touch so much, we crash into each other just to feel something.”

With nearly a year left, it may be reckless, but surely Crash by Paul Haggis (2004) is the best film of this century’s first decade.

As one who stumbles clumsily through attempts to write film scripts following the Syd Field school of plot construction, it came as a refreshing revelation the other night, flicking through the channels, to watch this film again with its complexity, its ten sub plots held together by the crash, its humanity, its tragedy and its humour.

There are some outstandingly natural performances from: Shaun Toub as Farhad the Iranian shopkeeper whose anger and frustration are palpable and come from having very little; Sandra Bullock as Jean Cabot, wife of Rick the DA, whose anger and frustration arise from having too much; Michael Pena as Daniel the Hispanic locksmith who is trying to move his family up in the world; Terrence Howard as Cameron, the black film director whose wife is humiliated in front of his eyes by Officer Ryan (Matt Dillon) whose own anger comes from the frustration of trying to fight through bureaucracy to get better medical care for his father, and one could go on.

Crash shows us, all too painfully at times, that we are all human; that people mainly good can have weaknesses; that people mainly bad can have redeeming features, but that ultimately we all share the same space and the need for human contact. Prejudice and ignorance are shown towards the “Chinaman” (really Korean) who is knocked down by the young black hoods while dealing with trafficked immigrants. They overwhelm the unfortunate Iranian shopkeeper assumed to be an Arab. They even get under the sheets between the detectives Graham and Ria. The same qualities are given a subtle twist by Anthony and his constant complaining about how black people are stereotyped but who conforms exactly to the stereotype Jean feared when she saw him and Peter on the pavement after the meal.

While there is tension and argument inherent in almost every relationship in the film, the tenderness between Daniel the locksmith and his daughter Lara (the magic cloak) is beautifully done and in case any reader has not seen the film, I shall not give the plot away further on this point. But while there is tension everywhere, there is also compassion and redemption as Officer Ryan heroically rescues Christine, the woman he had earlier spitefully molested, from the burning car. Tenderness too breaks through in the filial devotion shown by Detective Graham towards his alcoholic and unforgiving mother. Even Anthony gives a handful of money to the poor trafficked Chinese as they are liberated.

Crash is my vote for Film of the Decade. It is tense, uncomfortable, at times funny, but never dull and above all it is made for people willing to think. Not to be missed.

(Feb 2009)