The Second Time Around

Tonight my roommate and I were flipping through some of the movie channels on TV when we spotted a film we both recognized, Crash. I have previously blogged about this film (see: http://jetsthoughts.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_jetsthoughts_archive.html. The date was March 6, 2006), and I mentioned then that it was by far the best film I had seen that year. I agree even more after watching this movie again tonight. It might be the best movie I have ever seen. The emotion, the power, the story is just unreal. So amazingly good that it is difficult to describe.

I'll put it this way, I do not think I have ever cried while watching a movie. In my whole life, even if I was young and was scared I don't think I cried. I had to fight back tears tonight in this one particular scene in Crash. It is a scene in which Michael Pena's locksmith character is in a confrontation with a shop owner who had his store robbed and vandalized because a door was not fixed. Pena's character replaced the lock on the door, but it was the door and not the lock that was the problem. Since Pena told that to the shop owner, the insurance company refused to cover the damages. The shop owner decided to track down the locksmith to seek revenge. It appears as though the shop owner will hold the locksmith up for some money with the gun that he is pointing at the locksmith. The shop owner repeatedly yells, "You took everything from me." As he is yelling this, the locksmith's young daughter, whom we are introduced to in an earlier scene and the locksmith gives her an "impervious cloak" in which she can not been hurt. It is to comfort her when she is scared at the time, and we, the audience, feel a warm loving moment at this time that warm feeling vanishes here. She yells to her mom, "He doesn't have it. He doesn't have it!" And immediately my gut dropped (even though I know what will happen). She goes running out of the house saying, "I'll save you daddy!" I nearly cried right there, but the most gut-wrenching was yet to come. She jumps into her father's arms and, out of a reaction, the shop owner pulls the trigger on his gun. We hear music in the background as we see a father and mother screaming, but we do not hear their voices. Adding to the power. I almost could not hold back my tears. But then we hear "I told you I would save you daddy," or something to that extent. It turns out the gun was filled with blanks, but I think that is the most powerful scene I have ever watched in a film.

Crash is fabulous, and if you want to see one of the greatest films ever made, find a way to get your hands on it immediately.