Crash

by Tyler Darke

      I could honestly talk for days about this movie, after all it is my favorite of all time, but I will do my best to consolidate all of my feelings towards it into a reasonably concise review.

      While this movie was extremely successful on so many levels, the most successful to me is the acting. It was a bold decision to put so many well-known actors into the same movie. It can be difficult to make an ensemble cast like this work. The viewer has to see all of them as their individual characters, rather than their personalities as celebrities. Crash accomplished this beautifully. It's like you have never seen these actors before in your life. They disappear into their roles, drawing the viewer into the story.

     All of the actors gave commanding performances; however, most-notable to me was Michael Peña's performance as Daniel Ruiz, a Hispanic locksmith. I have seen Peña in a number of other films, but he is definitely not as famous and experienced as many of the other actors in Crash. This is why I was so surprised that he became my favorite character in the movie. He does a phenomenal job portraying a strong father with a gentle, loving core. The movie deals with a multitude of racial and social tensions. Peña's character is judged as a thug because of his tattoos and Hispanic heritage. We get to see that this judgment couldn't be further from the truth. He is a hard-working father who loves his daughter more than anything. This bond between him and his daughter was incredibly heart-felt because of their chemistry. The scene in the daughter's bedroom regarding the blanket was my favorite of the entire film. It really displays a beautifully relatable love between father and daughter.

     The incredible performances in Crash would not have been nearly as powerful without the incredible screenplay by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. The script was perfectly daring, without becoming inappropriate. It crossed boundaries that may make some uncomfortable in reality; however, it was necessary and key to the film's success. Racial and social conflicts are very real problems in modern society, but may of us do not experience them in our daily lives. Crash provides viewers with the opportunity to experience these conflicts first hand and to realize how detrimental they are to society. The powerful script is what makes the viewer experience conflicts, as opposed to just watching pretend conflicts.

     All of these aspects contribute to the success of Crash and supports its deserving win of the Academy Award for Best Picture. But what makes it my favorite movie? What makes it stand out? The answer to this is personal to my taste in movies. I absolutely love movies with complex plots that use every second to develop the story. There is a fine line, though, between movies that beautifully portray complex plots and movies that are just confusingly complex and impossible to relate to. Crash delivers a very complex plot in an extremely successful way. There are so many intricate storylines that are constantly progressing throughout the film. It leaves the viewer attempting to guess what will happen next, but never being able to. You have to patiently wait for the ending, when everything is brought together, and you're never able to see the word "Crash" the same again. 10/10

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

     - Graham Waters (Don Cheadle)