Crash... a collision of "stereotypes"

It has been quite a while... a flurry of changes in life... a move to a new place, new job... I haven't had the volition to write for reasons unknown... or known, for that matter. Anyway, I had a chance to watch the movie "Crash" yesterday... an emotionally intense movie.

"It's the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something." These first few lines of the movie touch a chord, catch the attention, and form the core theme around which the plot is developed.

The movie continually emphasises the fact that things in life are not black and white... there are always shades of gray... each person is the sum total of each and every experience he has had in his life. The characters are just a representation of the different socio-economic segments of the society... each of them evolves as the movie progresses. Throughout the course of the movie, our impression of the characters keeps changing. The movie has several underlying themes - the way that we are all just "connected" with the people we interact with knowingly or unknowingly, though we may never get to know each other at a personal level; the fact that we are the victims of our own prejudices; the misconception among most of us that there is nothing beyond what we know; the hypocrisy when it comes to some of our own misconstrued beliefs, leading to insensitivity... each and every one of these aspects is well depicted, through the events in the lives of the characters within a span of 36 hours.

The beauty of the movie lies in the fact that it accentuates repeatedly on the reason or logic behind an action than the action itself. I personally feel that the movie is well-made... a lot of interpretation of the situations is left to the discretion of the viewer - I feel that this is one of the positive aspects of the movie. The movie could have been subtler, but I have a feeling that this crudeness serves the movie well. There are several situations where the movie actually has subtle messages well portrayed.

Also, I believe that racism was just a way of putting across the message to the viewers... we never know how a minute, miniscule action of ours could affect another person, we should "STOP" (subtly indicated by the several STOP signs shown through the course of the movie - one of the several instances of the ingenuity shown by the makers), think about the morality, logic and consequences of our actions and only then go ahead... we should get out of our pre-conceived notions, our sanctimoniousness, and try to open ourselves to the possibility of the existence of things alien to us, try to understand and co-exist with them despite the diverse perspectives...

Overall, you may eventually like the movie or not, but I can surely vouch that "Crash" is a must-watch for movie aficionados.