Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11026 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-08-28
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Box set, Director's Cut, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 114 minutes

Synopsis
A stellar cast collides haphazardly in this insightfully written tale of racism, rage, and redemption which takes place over the course of one day in Los Angeles and involves a circus of cops, robbers, and civilians. A detective (Don Cheadle) with a heroin addict mother and criminal brother investigates the shooting of a black cop by a white cop. Two hoodlums (Larenz Tate and Ludacris) jack the car of the District Attorney (Brendon Fraser) and his angry, racist wife (Sandra Bullock). Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton play an upper-class African American couple harassed by a racist cop (Matt Dillon). The chaos continues, with other roles played by Tony Danza, Michael Pena, and Jennifer Esposito. A propulsive Mark Isham score keeps the disparate narrative threads electrified from the get-go; when they finally connect, the results are explosive and beautiful. Everything is tied together with tight editing and artistic shots of car headlights cutting through dense morning smog. Writer-director Paul Haggis' (writer of MILLION DOLLAR BABY) Los Angeles is a world of alienated people struggling to connect across vast barriers of language, class, and culture; that they manage to do so is testament to their depth as characters more than some trite message of brotherly love. There are no easy answers, but this film is tough, intelligent, and gutsy enough to find some anyway. This version of CRASH features an extended director’s cut main feature.

Customer Reviews

To hell with all the fuss!
Either love it or hate it, the most 'marmite' film of the last few years although the haters are mainly pretentios, podantic reveiwers who only concentrate on the politics of the film and not the movie itself.
I love this movie and although it does purposefully tug at the heartstrings a tad too much, it takes a stone cold heart not to swell up with compassion for this film. The ensemble cast who are mainly actors that have not been on the radar for a while all do a fine job as if thier lives depended on it and the hispanic guy and Cheadle are paticularly superb.
At first it is hard to ignore the blatent forcefulness of its core issues with the word 'black' used on countless occasions but this leads into many great storylines and you begin to realise just how important and integral the issue of racism is. All of us are forced into stereo-typing and prejudising at certain points of our live but that doesnt neccesarily mean someone is racist. I think this film is cleverer than people think and one should not be afraid to embrace the films deep core. Great acting, Great direction, wonderful cinematography and the scene in which Dillion's racist but caring cop rescues Thandie Newton from the car crash is just one of a number of mesmerising scenes that grip you and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up on end. A modern classic without dought.

A Masterpiece of human relationships
As a facilitator who works in the arena of human relationships and raising awarenesss this film is a masterpeice. I regularly show it to my groups as it shows the complexity of human interaction and how issues in our personal lives play out in our daily interactions. For those that see it as as only a view on American society are missing out on it's deeper reflection of who we all are as humans. I have also found it's not the film that is powerful but more so, the emotions it generates within the viewer. I have regularly had students who had seen the film prior to my courses and they say that it was insignificant then watched after the course and seen a completely different film. When I ask what has changed, the answer is always their perception and therein lies a metaphore for life. What does it take to examine our perceptions? CRASH taps deeply into our intepretations of the world around us and can reveal more about who we are than we realise or some would like to admit. The true impact is not in the film but rather in the way we respond to it. Do we have the courage to look in the mirror?
Watch this film and then examine your own values and beliefs and the impact they have (CRASH) on others, then you'll really get this film.

Crashing in for intimacy?
Don cheadle's little aside question above pokes fun at the modern society. Theres plenty of issues here, crime, assimilation in America, cultural clashes and of course racism all done superbly by the cast. Everyone should have a favourite thread in this movie, my own was the black director who is led to question his manhood and racial heritage culminating into a hugely ironic scene involving a younger black hoodlum in his car trying to rob him, and the police.

I really enjoy movies with multiple plots intertwining together like pulp fiction. By the end of the movie a link has been established between most of the characters and how their race has effected how people treat them in their lives. The dialogue isn't Disney, its really modern and abrasive at times.

Its just a pity most of the film is shot a nighttime but I guess great stories like these only come out when the sun goes down. I have'nt seen the directors cut so I plan on buying this, but from the standard version all I can say is its definitely a buy for any movie collectors like me out there. 9/10