Crash (2005)

CRASH  (2005)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Paul Haggis
    Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard,
    Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton,
    Ryan Phillippe, William Fichtner, Shaun Toub
An Oscar-winning ensemble piece set in Los Angeles, about a bunch of people who don't much like each other, but keep having to deal with each other anyway. A television director. A hard-assed cop. A locksmith. A thief. A shopkeeper. A detective. The district attorney. And some others. All living in a virtual war zone, an ethnic melting pot they view (justifiably) with fear and antipathy. They're all more complex than they first appear, and somewhere beneath (or within) the moral compromises they make, there's a glimmer of shared humanity. The coincidences pile up in a way that's almost surreal, but the acting is powerful, and in its best moments, so is the film. "Can't we all just get along?" Rodney King might ask. Hmmm. Maybe. But according to "Crash", probably not.