Crash

My weekend was full of character-driven goodness, starting with Sin City on Friday and culminating on Saturday with Crash. I can certainly see why Crash deserves to win Best Picture, and I will not hesitate to call it one of the Best Movies Ever.

Seldom have I ever seen such a beautifully woven tapestry of character-driven stories. They all intertwine. It was uplifting and saddening, frightening and reassuring, profound and entertaining, all at the same time. The music was awesome. I cried at least once, and was teary-eyed for much of the movie.

Spoiler warnings below.

My favourite aspect of Crash would be that there was no bad guy. There were no clear winners or losers. The movie focusses on a number of main characters in Los Angelos, and as the movie progresses their lives connect in various ways. Each time we see the character, we get to see a new faucet of their personality. For example, there is one character, a cop, who we originally are supposed to see as racist. Later in the movie he puts his prejudices aside to save a Black woman from an overturned vehicle that's about to explode--the same woman whom he groped while on duty a few nights before. So he's not the completely irredeemable bad guy; he's not the villain. All of the characters have both good and bad traits, do good and bad actions (some of them quite dramatic). The characters grow and change even though the movie itself takes place over only a few days. And all the while I'm watching this, I feel for the characters. I root for each one and say, "Come on, go for it! No, nooo, don't do that! Come on, make The Right Choice!" Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

For those who have not yet seen it, I strongly advise that you watch it as soon as possible.