Crash

Several stories crash together during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters who are mostly racist, a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, and a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets. Hilarity ensues.

This was a very powerful movie. The interaction between the characters in the cynical, cyclical story really makes you think about racial issues. There are misunderstandings and stereotyping everywhere. Even the "good guys," the ones seemingly with morals, end up not being so good and even become the worst of all. Everybody, and I mean everybody, is ruled by their own prejudices. Even a little girl who hides under her own bed because she is afraid of being shot by a stranger. You sit and watch and want to yell at the screen "You idiot, why are you doing that!" You like the characters, and hate the characters at the same time and you hope to God that you aren't like that. As Matt Dillon's character asks "You think you know who you are? You have no idea."

Trivia: Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an appearance in the film. Not as an actor, but as the Governor of California - his photo in a frame hangs on the wall of Lt. Dixon's office (Ryan Phillippe's boss).