Warning : Spoilers involved in the review
The film features an all-star cast of Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris ’’Ludacris’’ Bridges, Thandie Newton and Ryan Philippe.
Directed by Paul Haggis,
Cowritten by Haggis and Bobby Moresco and produced by Haggis, Cathy Schulman, Bobby Moresco, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari and Mark R. Harris
The story delves into the psyche of the Americans and how they feel and deal about racial discrimination. The storyline is based on 10 people who in a days time interact with each other either psychologically or emotionally and each of them realize something about themselves and morality. Where this movie strikes you is the way it carries the racial discrimination to deeper depths. The society is just not divided on color alone (the usual white vs black) but also on the basis of community and how each look at the other.
Issue 1 : Matt Dillon and Ryan Philippe (his partner) are cops who pull up a black couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton) then matt Dillon ends up molesting the black guys wife just for spite. The husband has to make a decision on whether to apologize for doing nothing wrong or stand up for his wife. Tough choice but one that has to be taken. Apologize and he compromises on his wifes safety? Don’t apologize and may end up getting shot.? (What would you do?)
Issue 2 : Sandra Bullock is married to Brendan Fraser who is a District Attorney contesting the elections. At gun point their car is stolen by two blacks (Larenz Tate and Ludacris). Sandra blows her top at home and belts out racial comments on their south American house keeper and also at the Hispanic guy (Michael Pena) who is changing their locks.
Issue 3 : White cop kills a black cop in what seems to be a racial hate kill but then later smuggled money is found in the car of the killed black cop. Don Cheadle is a black cop who is investigating the case.
Issue 4 : A Persian couple who constantly has to face jibes and harassment from society because Americans are blaming them for 9/11.
Issue 5: The Hispanic locksmith changes the lock of the Persian uncles store but also tells him that he has to change the door as its also faulty. The Persian uncle takes this also as cheating and then harrases the Hispanic. He does not change the door and his store gets vandalized.He now wants to get even with the Hispanic whom he blames for his loss.
Issue 6 : Brendan Fraser wants to capitalize on the cop murder case and wants Don Cheadle to stand up for the killed black cop even though there is evidence shows that the killed cop might have been tainted. Brendan wants political mileage from it. He offers to remove all police history on his brother (larenz tate – the car thief) .
Again a dilemma . What will the brother do? Stand against a cop to protect his brother? Or go with justice? ( what would you do?)
Ok guys these are the major scenarios on which the story carries forward. Based on the above issues the characters start to interact with each other and by the end of the movie each has touched the others lives. How they do it what makes the movie very very interesting.
Another striking thing about the movie is that each character shows a pass the S*&t attitude. He gets harrased on one scene and ends up harassing someone else in the other. Understanding for the fellow human is there only as long as he himself is shown some worth.
Some power scenes to look for in the movie :
1) Matt Dillon in the course of the movie has to save the life of Thandi who he has molested in the beginning. He has to pull her out from a burning car which could explode at any moment. On seeing his face she screams out “Not you..Not you…Anyone but you” . Matt really understands the gravity of his actions when he sees a woman who would rather burn alive than being rescued by him. For a second you can see the emotions that passes through matts face. I mean how would you feel about your actions which will bring out such reactions from another person who would rather die than being touched by you again,
2) The Hispanics daughter is scared about an earlier incident when a bullet comes in through her window. He tells her a story about how a fairy had given him a magic cloak which protected him from bullets all this time and he makes a show of giving her the invisible cloak to protect her and to remove her fear.
The Persian uncle comes with a gun to shoot the Hispanic because he blames that Hispanic for giving him a faulty lock. The scene shows the shopkeeper pointing a gun at the Hispanic asking him to give him money for his losses. The little girl shouts that her father does not have the cloak and goes running and jumps at into her fathers arms to protect him. At that same instant the shopkeeper fires. The entire theater gave a gasp of shock. But then they see that the girl does not have a bullet wound. What happened?? The shopkeeper is shocked that he had actually shot a little girl in anger.
3) Sandra bullock falls down the stairs and she calls her friends for help. None of her amrican friends turn up and she is finally assisted by her housekeeper. She then realizes that its not the color what determines your associates but rather what lies beneath. She calls and tell her husband that when she called her friend for help her friend refused saying that she was having a massage and would not be able to come.
4) The constant bantering of Ludicrus who is a car thief on how people in US discriminate against blacks is really amusing.
5) There are scenes which shows that good things can happen to bad people and Bad things will happen to good people. Im not going into that now it then it would be a pretty lengthy review. Just take my word for it.
All in all a really well made movie which bring out the Worst in society. It reveals the truth about who we are and what we are. Requires a lot of speculation on ourselves and if society really will Crash finally.
What we have to realize in all this is that Morality don’t make people rather people make Morality.
Have a shot at it. You wont regret it
Please do have a look at the comments section and let me know what you think.!! thanks