Jul 18
It’s the sense of touch.
“In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”
I just got done watching a movie called Crash. It’s directed by a man named Paul Haggis, who in my mind is, after two films, a man that I will definitely be keeping my eyes on. I really hate to use words like “mesmerizing” and “chilling” for fear I’ll start sounding like some cheap newspaper reviewer, but fucked if they aren’t appropriate here. (more)
I’ve been trying for the last 30 minutes or so to wrap my mind around this movie, but fucked if I’m having any luck. So there’s this group of people, right? And they all end up coming together due to this traffic accident. The movie tells the story of what led up to the accident, and very briefly what happened afterward.
One of the IMDB reviewers (who rated this movie very highly) said that this movie was attempting to put forth that racists were not born, but trained. My first observation, however, was more basic: it would be that these people seem to live constantly in a world of shit. Rich, poor, black, white, every single last one of them is unhappy with their position in life and wants to make some sort of a change.
Either way, I can’t seem to find this moving, important motion picture as anything except depressing. Of course that seems to be the way I find everything these days, so it’s not like that’s any big fuckin’ surprise. I look at those people’s lives and see in them a mirror image of my own - job dragging me ever deeper into depression, want so desperately to make a change, get out, do something that makes some sort of a difference, but we’re all stuck balls-deep in the same giant vat of shit. Can’t manage to come up with one group of friends that can stand to stay in one room with each other, can’t get a job that doesn’t suck ass, can’t straighten out my fuckin’ life let alone try and help anybody else.
I guess I just find it a little disheartening to get slapped in the face with my own logic. I’ve always felt that part of the reason I’ve been so depressed is because my job, my family, and even the place I live are all emotional poison, and if I could get the fucking fuck away from all of those things I might finally be able to feel good about something again, but if nothing else, this movie showed me that no matter where you do, where you go, or how well-off you are, that poison will still find you.
Don’t take my word for it, though, go watch this movie. It’s fucking oustanding. Just make sure to do it when you’re feeling happy, so you can analyze it objectively. Myself, since I really don’t feel happy anymore, I’m gonna just have to suffer through this alone, I guess.