CRASH (2004)
Updated: Dec 10, 2022
A Horrific and Moving Story of Racial Prejudice in America
Grade: A
**Spoiler Alert!!**
Crash is one of the most notorious Oscar winners of all time. Premiering at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, it was released in the U.S. the following year and subsequently won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Though lauded by critics, many film aficionados cried foul at its big win, believing the top prize should have gone to Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Whether Crash deserved Best Picture or not, it remains an extremely well-written film that tackles its subject matter with shocking intensity.
Crash is similar in structure to Paul Thomas Anderson's epic drama Magnolia (1999), which follows several interconnected story threads about various people in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles who are often either victims or perpetrators of childhood trauma. Crash also takes place in L.A. and follows several groups of people whose stories become related, albeit by another important issue plaguing America: racial discrimination and the animosity it spawns. Over the course of twenty-four hours, the script by Bobby Moresco and director Paul Haggis explores a Persian store owner who is robbed (Shaun Toub), a District Attorney and his wife (Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock) who are carjacked, a detective (Don Cheadle) faced with an ethical dilemma about the prosecution of a white police officer who shot a black officer, and two cops-one a seemingly hopeless racist (Matt Dillon), the other an apparently good-as-gold rookie (Tom Hansen)-among many others. With so many characters, it is impressive that the screenplay (which also won an Oscar) and the talented cast are able to effectively tell their stories in less than two hours of runtime.
All these characters experience racism in some form or another. Sometimes they are the cause of it, sometimes they are the victims, sometimes they are both, and sometimes they are affected by other people who are victims. Their reactions to the circumstances also vary, as do their fates. Some find redemption, or at least show themselves to be not altogether irredeemable. Others find their lives ruined or even ended. In all cases, the destructive consequences of racism are so shocking and sad that they manage to keep our attention from beginning to end.
The movie explores not only the ways prejudice directly impacts individuals, but also their relationships. After a director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandiwe Newton) are pulled over, the racist cop gropes her before letting them off with a warning. Naturally, she is traumatized and also angry at her husband for not doing anything, creating a rift in their marriage. The next day, after he is pulled over again while dealing with a carjacker mid-drive (Ludacris), the husband lashes out at the police and is only saved when the presumably squeaky-clean cop intervenes and gives him another warning. One of the biggest triumphs of Crash is how the overwhelming majority of characters are shown to be neither completely good nor completely bad. A lesser movie might have taken sides, but Crash is more realistic and complex. Instead all the characters are shown to be simply human, and our expectations for the story are consequently subverted.
The Persian shop store owner, for example, blames the robbery on a Hispanic locksmith he recently quarreled with (Michael Peña) and sets out to kill him. When he fires his gun and seemingly hits the man's daughter, all are amazed to see she is completely unharmed. This shocks him back to his senses and inspires him to abandon his anger (it is later revealed that the gun was filled with blanks). The detective, meanwhile, suspects the dead black cop was dealing in drugs, but he relents when the D.A.'s campaign manager (William Fichtner) threatens to expose his brother as a carjacker, claiming the LAPD needs the youth to look up to it and see the dead cop as a victim and the shooter a monster.
The movie has been accused of enforcing the "White Savior" trope, but this accusation does not hold up under scrutiny when one sees how it is actually represented. At first we are led to believe that Ryan Philippe's police officer is a shining force of good who wants to help African Americans. But after his attempts result in him being shunned, he starts to resent black people, with tragic consequences. On the flipside, Matt Dillon's cop ironically ends up rescuing the very woman he had recently groped from a violent car crash. One could argue that this doesn't make things better for the story, since Dillon was simply doing his job, but it further illustrates the movie's message that where there is good there can be evil, and where there is evil there can be good.
Crash does not pretend to have the answers to racism. It merely demonstrates that prejudice is very real, and how one deals with it can affect everyone around them. The movie's focus on the characters' humanity interestingly ties in to a simple fact and the number one argument against racism: that everyone is equal. Crash may not be as impactful as Magnolia, which had more emotional power and tackled another serious problem in a relatively more subtle manner. But it is comparable in that it effectively shows the impact that its issue can have on individuals, and that even in the most miserable and depressing times, there can be hope.
Director: Paul Haggis
Screenplay: Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco
Producers: Don Cheadle, Paul Haggis, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco, Cathy Moresco, Cathy Schulman, Bob Yari
Cast: Sandra Bullock (Jean Cabot), Don Cheadle (Det. Graham Waters), Matt Dillon (Sgt. John Ryan), Jennifer Esposito (Ria), Brendan Fraser (Rick Cabot), Terrence Howard (Cameron Thayer), Ludacris (Anthony), Thandiwe Newton (Christine Thayer), Michael Peña (Daniel Ruiz), Ryan Philippe (Tom Hansen), Larenz Tate (Peter), William Fichtner (Jake Flanagan), Shaun Toub (Farhad), Bahar Soomekh (Dorri), Keith David (Lt. Dixon)
Rated: R (for language, sexual content and some
violence)
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