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Reviews
Crash (2004)
This one goes on my All-Time-Top-Ten list
I've seen this movie three times so far. Everyone I know who has seen it raves about it. The theme is racism, but what is compelling is that it's a great story -- Haggis has a screenplay that is superb. I was caught up in this movie from beginning to end -- continuously surprised and intrigued. Don't try to over-analyze the "message" of this movie, just let it happen. The scene between the Hispanic father and his daughter when she is hiding under the bed, frightened, is an instant classic. I read that this movie was made for $6.5 million, and the screenplay was written on spec, yet the result is the most gripping movie of the year. I enthusiastically recommend it to everyone I talk to.
The Boys of Baraka (2005)
Saw this at SWSX
This was my favorite movie of the SWSX Film Festival in Austin. A great story, and beautifully done. Engaging, uplifting, and emotionally draining. This is about a group of Baltimore inner-city, at-risk, African-American boys selected to be sent to a private school in Kenya, and the way they changed in a year. The boys and their families who were selected to be featured in the documentary were captivating. One of the boy's father was in jail and it showed a visit by the boy to his father before he left for Africa and their interaction. The boys were originally supposed to stay for two years but this was cut short by a sad fate of the school. I was surprised at how much I was drawn into the story and the outcome of the experiment. And it is beautifully filmed. I highly recommend this movie.