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and desire for each one of these characters to change for the better no matter what is portrayed extraordinarily in this film, showing the viewer exactly how much can impact a single person, and how much a single person can impact everyone else around them, themselves included.
The movie Crash was directed by Paul Haggis, who also wrote and produced such stories as The Million Dollar Baby and Letters From Iwo Jima, receiving several academy awards for The Million Dollar Baby. The name for this work was incredibly relevant to the movie itself, with every persons stories intertwining in some way, or perhaps inevitably just "crash" into those of another's. The actors and actresses in this film include Shaun Taub as the Middle-Eastern, more specifically Iranian, man who is misinterpreted as being an Arab and, ultimately, a terrorist and because of this, he and his family (wife and daughter, played by Bahar Soomekh from SAW III) suffer the harassment of the random citizens of Los Angeles, even the local gun shop owner. Large stars Sandra Bullock and Brandon Frasier play a rich and important white family, with Frasier being the District Attorney for Los Angeles, that is struck with fear after an act of violence against them. The Mexican locksmith, played by Michael Pena, has everyone fooled as seeming like a typical gun-toting gang member, but in fact being a legitimate family man trying to advance his family that he loves so dearly. Don Cheadle (Swordfish, Ocean's 11, 12, and 13) plays a Black police detective that is having an affair with his Latin partner, of unknown and confusing decent, played by Jennifer Esposito. A Black TV producer, Terrence Dashon Howard, that "doesn't act Black" married to a very spoiled and very light-skinned black woman played by Thandie Newton. The two "odd-couple" characters are played by Larenz Tate (A Man Apart and Ray) and Ludacris (Hip-hop Artist), both of which are racist against all others and complain about how it's effected them; however, they're both on different levels and effected by it in different ways, but their stereotypical career of choice is what brings them together. An elderly Asian man plays a small role in this film, and he is transporting some rather unordinary cargo. The two White male police officers in the movie are played by Matt Dillion (There's Something About Mary and Employee of the Month) and Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions and I Know What You Did Last Summer), with Dillion's character being the seasoned, racist officer who seems like a complete jerk, until we see his family-life and the reasons that made him the way that he is, and Phillippe's character portrayed as the rookie who feels uneasy about his partners prejudiced actions and is completely unbiased, or so he thinks.

Overall, Haggis provides for the viewers unexpected twists and turns in the characters development and plot layout in this eye-opening story of racism, fear, anger, and the evils that these emotions create. If any movie will make people think twice about the prejudice and the stereotypes that they've grown up accepting, it's this one, this film just may make audiences want to change their ways for the better, which is the main reason that I liked this movie so much and would recommend it to anyone. Crash is a film about independent spiritual and emotional journeys and invites viewers to tag along in each ones travels.

Learn more about this author, Aaron Thompson.
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