Which U.S. city does "Crash" depict?

The film Crash depicts Los Angeles, where its interconnected stories unfold across a tense two-day period. The 2004 crime drama, written and directed by Paul Haggis, uses the city as both its setting and a central subject.

The plot follows police officers, detectives, attorneys, carjackers, shopkeepers and families whose lives collide amid racial suspicion, class divisions and institutional power. Rather than focusing on one protagonist, the film uses several overlapping storylines to present Los Angeles as a city shaped by cultural diversity, separation and unexpected encounters.

The film’s setting is especially important because its characters move through recognizable urban spaces, from affluent neighborhoods and highways to working-class districts and commercial streets. Haggis said the story was partly inspired by a 1991 incident in which he was carjacked in Los Angeles. Viewers sometimes confuse this film with David Cronenberg’s 1996 film of the same title, which is set in Toronto and explores a very different subject.