Favorite Movies of All Time-- Number 17

Well no one seems to have guessed number 17 of my FAVORITE movies of all time- haha. It was actually a very simple one.

CRASH

For the Oscar race that year it was between Crash and Brokeback Mountain. I saw both and LOVED both. Brokeback Mountain was an amazing love story and one that is rarely told-- one between a man and another man. Do not get it wrong it was a great movie and Ang Lee deserved the Best Director Oscar but Crash was the far better movie.

It did more than make me cry, it made me reflect on my own prejudices. It made me look in myself and see what I need to change and then it made me look into the world and see things I can change.

It helped me to become a better teacher.

The one scene that still HAUNTS me is the scene where a Muslim man confronts a man he feels wronged him. He takes a gun and it goes off at the man. But before bullet hits the man, his 4-5 year old daughter runs out and jumps in front of him.

Literally the entire theater gasped (including myself). I was crying so hard I could not see the next portion of the movie right away. But then I realized nothing happened, the gun was filled with blanks. The little girl jumped because daddy had given her his invisible cape to wear.

I almost started to laugh but if you think about that scene. It was brought together not by great acting but by the amazing storytelling. Do not get me wrong-- the acting is amazing. Sandra Bullock does her BEST acting in this movie (not The Blind Side). Other countless actors do amazing acting.

The problem when it came time for acting Oscars is this is an ensemble piece-- there are too many actors doing great work in it for any one person to get noticed. All of their performances live off those of other people in the movie. Every character in the movie is connected to two to three other people.

It is simple an amazing movie that I recommend HIGHLY for anyone that loves a great character driven drama with a meaning and soul behind it.

*** clue for Number 16--- One of Julia Robert's first movies but one of my personal favorite. It is her second on my countdown but not her last one on it. She stars with Richard Gere and has one amazing surprised scene in it. Hopefully I will get to post about it sometime next week.