Crash

Have you seen Crash?



If you haven't, you really ought to rent it. It's the best movie of 2004 so far hands down. It tackles racism in all its forms, which from the beginning of our history has probably the defining issue of this country. And why shouldn't it be? We are the country of foreigners. We welcome everyone and say we are all created equal, but frankly we're not really up to the job. Whether we are black, white, latino, asian, or some mixture, there is inherent prejudice bred into us that we have to fight to overcome every day. That's what this movie is about. All of us pre-judge people based on race or even just what we think is someone's race. This movie exposes that racism in all of us and, even more importantly, shows that while we all may have a bit of racism in us, we are all capable of great good, too. The best performance is hard to pick, but I'm going to go with Matt Dillon. He plays perhaps the most obviously racist character in the movie. He's also a cop. And when it comes time for him to reach inside and choose between the hero cop and the racist bastard, he chooses the hero. That choice is what this movie is all about. We can rise above the inherent racism within us. We can choose to be better. It isn't always easy and we're not always going to make the right choice, but we do have it within us.

That moment depicted on the movie poster, by the way, made me cry. But then I have two little girls, so that's not too suprising, I guess.