Review of Crash (2005) by Andrewburge — 10 Sep 2018

Paul Haggis's 'Crash' its so much more than ye-olde-school racism. It is about the lack of human connections and mental damages brought up by living in modern America. More specifically, Los Angeles. A metropolis feeding on the minds of people, overflowing with concepts of hatred and anger brought by its hectic pace.

"It's the sense of touch" says Detective Graham (Don Cheadle) after a close-call car accident. "In LA 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 to feel something". His partner and lover Ria (Jennifer Esposito) thinks he might have lost his frame of reference, which might be true. But these ideas were always deep inside him and maybe this brush with mortality just made them come forth.

The film spawns a glassy and gloomy soundtrack occasionally containing sublime and dramatic world music and its visual style is polished and deeply introspective. Shots follow the characters beautifully as they clash with the surrounding neon lights of the big city. There is technical prowess in 'Crash' and, like all great films, there is no moment of pause. Los Angeles is the Haggis's chosen melting pot for not only necessarily race, but varying human ideologies. The 5-6 subplots are switched from one to another with relative ease, and often they split into more or they rejoin one another.

Yet deep down, this is a film not about racial discrimination and eventual awareness, but about people and how ridiculous they can be. Scenes are switched at a fast pace, yet there is not one which is not interesting. Each one is focused, thorough and in a couple of minutes Haggis is more psychoanalytical than most films are in hours. He puts his characters in worst-case scenarios which they pass, but this might just be the first film which is about the lingering emotions brought up by those situations rather than the situations themselves. It is this what makes this film truly emotionally powerful.

It's funny how things work. And as the film progresses each of its characters are drawn to an eventual silver-lining; most of them finding solace, overcoming and awakening from their emotional coldness. Snow falls over Los Angeles as people go on about their lives. Just like before, consumed by quotidian anarchy masquerading as order, feeling regret, love, hate, sadness; and I felt everything too. It was so familiar. But in the end, I just laughed at everything and thought to myself: "people, man... people".