Moving at the speed of life we are bound to collide with each other.

A reflection on the overlooked events of racism in everyday life in Los Angeles California, Crash can draw in large audiences because of the diverseness in actors and actresses and the emotional appeal that the movie provides. This movie can lead you to reflect on yourself and others while doing some serious soul searching.

Crash was released in 2005 and directed by Paul Haggis. If you don’t know him from his work with Crash then you may know him from the movie Million Dollar Baby. Crash won three Oscars, which included Best Achievement in Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Haggis directs the film with up close shots that make you feel as if you know the characters personally, like you are living the scene with them.

The movie starts and ends at the same place, with a car crash. It then tells what happened in the thirty-six hours in between. The characters do not know each other personally but yet they are interconnected in many ways. There are many collisions that happen between the characters of different races and economic backgrounds. The story is told by each one of these individuals and you get to see how unique each situation is. There is a detective who has a drugged mother and has a thieving younger brother. The brother and his other thieving friend are constantly theorizing on racism. There is a white attorney and his wife who makes it no secret that she hates people not like her. There is a racist white cop who also cares for his sick father at home. This cop has a younger partner who watches him molest a successful director’s wife and can do nothing about it. Lastly there is a Persian man who buys a gun to protect his shop and family who then encounters a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter.

My favorite quote is one of the first lines from the movie, “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.” This really does explain big cities in The United States. People walk by other people everyday. Maybe these people really do miss being touched, so they crash into people just to feel something.

I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. I think it is a must see because it really opens your eyes and teaches you a valuable lesson about racism, discrimination and stereotypes. I urge you to see this movie and watch it with an open mind and learn something about yourself. It shows that all of us, no matter what race we are, we all have stereotypes and we sometimes cannot hide that fact. I would give it two thumbs up!