It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., 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. — Graham, from the movie Crash

"Is race really an issue in this country any more?" I asked at book group recently. We were discussing Native Son, a book very much about race, about the interaction between black and white in Depression-era Chicago. "I mean, the whole question of race seems to have disappeared from our culture. The black-white thing doesn't seem to be discussed anymore. The only sort of racism I see is directed toward Mexican immigrants."

The answer, of course, is that race is still an issue, but that I live in a white world, surround myself with white friends and white media. I don't hear about race because I'm not listening.

It was only a couple of weeks after this discussion that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought race to the fore. While I don't believe that race played a role in all (or even most) of the ways that, say, Jesse Jackson believes (for example, I think the fuss over the word "refugee" is not only absurd, but also detracts from real issues that ought to be addressed), I do believe it was an important factor in much of what occurred, if only as a legacy of the past, a continuing reminder that our society is still, nearly 150 years later, attempting to reconstruct itself from the remnants of slavery. It's difficult for some people to understand that the life of a black child in New Orleans in 2005 can have anything to do with slavery, but it's true: history moves slowly, and its marks are not soon shed.

We watched Crash last night, a film that Tiffany had asked us to get from Netflix. We didn't know anything about it going in, and came away impressed. It's a powerful film, a film that is all about racism, about how we deal with race in both conscious and subconscious ways.

Crash is a rambling ensemble piece. It tells the stories of maybe a dozen Los Angeles residents of varied ethnicity and class, tracking their movements over a period of about 48 hours. Specifically, the film explores the character's attitudes toward race. Their lives weave and intertwine, become tangled, and at every turn, they crash into one another, and then are forced to pick up the pieces. None of the characters are completely likable, yet all are sympathetic. Much of their behavior is predictable, yet each does things you would not expect.

Though most critics gave the film positive notices, not everyone loved it. (The New York Times review is particularly harsh.)The reviewers bemoaned the cardboard characters. They noted the plot riddled with coincidence. They groused that the people and situations weren't realistic. They complained that the story was too Liberal.

I'm not sure the source of the latter complaint, actually; the film does not espouse a political viewpoint, but attempts to provoke the viewer to thought. Is it Liberal to ask a person to think about race? (To think about anything?)

I think the other complaints miss the point. This film is not meant to be realistic. It's not meant to have complex, wholly believable characters. The coincidences are intentional. I believe the filmmaker has attempted to create iconic characters — characters with which the audience can easily relate — so that viewers will find themselves drawn into the story. And yes, the story is filled with implausible coincidences, but again, I think that's intentional, and the events are not meant to be taken literally. Roger Ebert is on the mark when he describes the individual stories as parables. That's precisely what they are: each story is a sort of zen koan.

This film has no easy answers. Nobody is Good, and nobody is Bad. They're simply people.

Crash is the sort of movie I love, filled with an ensemble cast, trying to convey an idea, to provoke thought, more than to tell a story. Magnolia (which I also loved) is another movie in this genre, as is Love Actually, which has become one of my Christmas favorites. I need to find more films like these three.

On this day at foldedspace.org

2004 — Groggy   When I woke on Tuesday, I knew it was going to be a rough day.

2002 — American Bacon 2, FC Saints 0   This morning was beautiful for soccer: cool, overcast, dew on the ground. Going into the game, I felt that my litany of injuries was improving: hand 95%, right quad 95%, shoulder 80%, left quad 65%. The left quad hurt.