CRASH

Crash is a movie about Collision - of everyday good and bad among ourselves , the collision of long held prejudices that solidify into beliefs with the realities that challenge all stereotypes . The philosophy of the title is expressed by Graham in the beginning of the movie when he says

GRAHAM (V .O

It 's the sense of touch

RIA (V .O .What

GRAHAM (V .O

Any real city , you walk , you 're

bumped , brush past people . In LA

no one touches you

GRAHAM (continuing

We 're always behind

metal and glass

Think we miss that touch so much

we crash into each other just to

feel something

The necessity to place this bristling movie in LA is the preponderance of multiple ethnicities living in close proximity with and dependent on each other . The characterization of all major characters of the movie takes into account the darkness and light , the good and evil residing in every person . The heroic Matt Dillon is not likeable . The philosophy mouthing , gun toting Anthony is a petty criminal but shown to possess a heart of gold in the climax when he releases the Chinese from captivity into a predominantly Chinese neighborhood . The hypocrisy of the LA attorney , the blatant racism of his wife Jean , the stereotyping owner of the gun store are all despicable for their racism and at the same time likeable in another setting

Racism has been dealt at two levels in this movie - the inherent belief of a human being on a fellow...