Crash

• ****

Paul Haggis, the man behind the screenplay adaptation of last year’s “Million Dollar Baby” makes his directorial debut with a thought-provoking study of the contemporary human condition and the prejudices that separate us.

Boasting a superb ensemble cast headed by Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Brendan Fraser just to name one layer, “Crash” grabs you by the lapel, sticks a gun in your face, and forces you to react.

The convoluted plot entwines several different sets of circumstances and moral dilemmas in an effort to jostle the viewer out of the mainstream, entertainment-saturated existence we have all been systematically hypnotized by. I found myself hypnotized in another way that rarely seems to happen on the big screen today. Call me an overly sensitive film geek, but I found so much to like about this movie it’s difficult to know where to start and when to stop my praise.

Granted, I love movies about people, character driven stories that have something to say about people; that have something to say about life today; that have something to share, to impart, to wake us up and make us look at ourselves and the things that we do and say. I want to feel something and “Crash” is not afraid to veer into your lane and honk the horn loudly.

The script has managed to touch on a myriad of modern attitudes that any thinking adult will quickly recognize, either as their own or someone else’s. It can be quite uncomfortable to hear some of the remarks made by the characters in this film, to see them behave with such ignorance and insensitivity. Be that as it may, this is the real point of “Crash,” to re-sensitize us to our own humanity, which seems to have gone missing in the monstrous maze of cars and buildings, which detours us from each other.

The film opens with a car accident and ends with another. There are more within the body of the film. Stolen cars, carjackings, and fender benders are just the punctuation for the lives we are witness to in this remarkable film. It is the faces of these actors that in the end come across so strongly. We are given a chance to look at the similarity present in the eyes of every race, whether in grief or anger or fear. We see the many face shapes that give America the great amount of character it knows it possesses, yet reluctantly admits.

Michael Pena portrays an electrical locksmith of Hispanic origin, a tattooed workingman who causes Sandra Bullock’s character to instantly suspect him of gangland connections. His performance is touching as a loving father trying to protect his 5-year-old daughter.

Chris “Ludacris” Bridges provides the film with much of its humor as Anthony, a gun-toting thug too busy stealing cars and complaining about his racial status to take a look at himself. He finally gets a chance to see beyond the gun barrel and adds yet another facet to the story.

If it weren’t already enough, Matt Dillon shows up as Officer Ryan, a bigoted cop worn down by the daily grind of fighting crime. Like many of the characters in “Crash,” he is unlikable and yet we end up understanding him.

There are a lot of other cast members who deserve to be mentioned, who make this movie come to life: Terrence Howard, Don Cheadle, Ryan Philippe, Thandie Newton, and Laranz Tate to name a few.

If this all sounds a little gushy, well just consider that I’ve had to sit through junk like “The Amityville Horror” and “Guess Who” over the past few weeks. It’s nice to walk out of the theatre with more on your mind than your car keys. Not counting “Sin City,” which belongs in a class all by itself, “Crash’ is the best film to be released so far this year. I suggest you go see it before I start running people off the road!