Fred (Tony Danza) and Cameron Thayer (Terence Dashon Howard) in Crash. Photo credit: Lorey Sebastian, ©2005, Lions Gate Films.

“It’s the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other just so we can feel something.”

With those words, Det. Graham Waters (played by Don Cheadle) captured my recent movie viewing experiences. It had been so long since I last felt anything at the movies, despite the fact that I “crash” the theaters with hopes that the shining screen will provoke some sort of feelings from inside of me. The last time I was deeply moved by a film was in the fall of 2003 when I first saw Clint Eastwood’s masterful crime drama, “Mystic River.” A year and a half later, I have finally seen another movie that has moved me in a way that few modern films have: Paul Haggis’ powerful debut direction, “Crash.”

Haggis, who recently received an Academy Award® nomination for adapting “Million Dollar Baby” to the big screen, takes plenty from Eastwood, as well as Robert Altman. Like Altman’s films, “Crash” intertwines the stories of several characters of different races and classes during a 36-hour period. As with Altman’s films, the result is fascinating.

Richard Cabot (Brendan Fraser) is a wealthy district attorney whose wife, Jean (Sandra Bullock), has a gun pointed in her face when their SUV is hijacked by a couple of black men (played by Ludacris and Larenz Tate). The aftermath for Jean is a breakdown that convinces her to trust nobody of color. Meanwhile, her husband fears that he may lose some votes from the black population in the upcoming election.

Bullock gives a surprisingly good performance, unlike anything we’ve seen her do before. But it’s Matt Dillon’s performance that has received the most praise thus far. Dillon plays Sgt. Ryan, a racist cop who sexually abuses a light-skinned black woman (Thandie Newton) while on duty. Officer Hanson (Ryan Phillippe) is a rookie cop assigned to learn from Sgt. Ryan, but requests to be replaced after he sees how Sgt. Ryan works.

On the other end of the color barrier, Det. Waters (Don Cheadle) is an intelligent but arrogant officer, sleeping with a Latino woman (Jennifer Esposito) whom he often offends with racial slurs. We find out that Waters has a heart—as well as a brother—in scenes involving his mother. Many other characters also have important roles: Terrence Dashon Howard plays a successful television director who is filled with rage because of the city; Michael Pena is a loving father and locksmith who is thought to be a crook by those who hire him; Shaun Toub is an Iranian store owner who speaks little English and is easily offended by racial slurs.

“Crash” is undoubtedly about racism, a subject that has been explored in numerous films in the past four decades. But the magic of “Crash” is that Haggis is able to breathe new life into the old-age subject—making “Crash” feel refreshingly new. Haggis directs “Crash” with uncompromising reality that, at times, makes the film almost unbearable to watch. He doesn’t rely on over-the-top situations or flashy camera work. Instead he allows his powerful story to do the talking, and talk it does. With its harsh language and lifelike rage, “Crash” has an undeniable realism that pierces through viewers’ hearts like an arrow. One scene, in which a young girl runs out to save her father, nearly had me in tears. Haggis uses powerful individual scenes, and individual characters, to make a complete and powerful picture about hate and racial discrimination.

It’s hard to believe that Haggis started his career writing lightweight television sitcoms, including episodes of “The Love Boat” and “Diff’rent Strokes.” With his adaptation of “Million Dollar Baby,” Haggis proved that he has the chops to write important movies. This year, Haggis not only demonstrated that he could write a good movie, but also direct it. “Crash” is the most emotionally moving film I’ve seen all year, and arguably the best.

Perhaps more than racism, “Crash” is about the influence that a living area has on its residents. It proposes that a city, like Los Angeles, can take ordinary people and inject them with enough fear to diminish them into monsters.