The Beauty of "Crash"

Well, I watched "Crash" last night. It was good. But I couldn't put my finger on just what it was about it that hit me so hard after watching it. Then I got all political on Kayne West...started thinking about the race debate that is taking place right now in regards to the victims of Hurricane Katrina... I don't want to give too much of the movie away, but the beauty of "Crash" lies in the moments of subconscious judgment. There were moments in the film that I related to...so much so that it brought me to tears. "I am angry all the time," says Sandra Bullock's character, Jean. "...And I don't know why..." For a second you think you have her, you think you have her pegged and then comes a moment of silence and she quietly, tensely says, "...sure. Call me back." You know the friend isn't going to call back. You know she hasn't been heard. The reasons you thought she was angry melt away and the real reasons are sad, lonely and all that is left for you to take from her character's story. It's the moment however, in between the thought and the realization that makes "Crash" so beautiful. We are so quick to judge people, situations and ourselves. Each segment of "Crash" slaps you in the face. "You think you know who you are," says Matt Dillion's character, Officer Ryan. "You have no idea." That is the point of "Crash". Personally, I think that America just crashed into its own sense of reality. Maybe it's just that nobody wants to admit that for a split second...they thought it...they were able to comprehend judging the value of the lives of a lot of people because of the color of their skin. Maybe that's what America doesn't want to deal with. Because that's not what we meant to become.