Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis made a supremely confident directorial debut with this intricately plotted ensemble drama – and Best Picture winner at the 2006 Oscars – tackling no less a topic than race relations in contemporary Los Angeles. The lives of a jumpy Middle Eastern shop owner, two carjacking young black men, a racist white cop, a black television director, a Hispanic locksmith and more all intersect with the realistic randomness of real life. What’s brave about Crash is the way it upends some racial stereotypes while confirming others; characters are both condemned and vindicated for trusting their discriminatory instincts.
