Crash (2005)

Simply Perfect

People are voting emotionally.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Crash is a movie with great ensemble cast and acting, with excellent cinematography. The movie is decent overall, highlighted by it's intense and emotional moments. It's interlocking style is certainly not original and it's plot does feel superficial and overdone. The movie's controversial Oscars win has certainly set unrealistic expectations and a wave of negativity. While being one of the weakest winners, it is far from being a terrible film. Unfortunately it will always be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

"Racist people are bad, but I'm not racist, so I'm not part of the problem." That is the feeling you are supposed to have when you finish watching Crash. I don't know if a movie could possibly have a more harmful message than that.Crash tells the story of many characters of different ethnic backgrounds who live in LA. Their lives all come together at different points and they learn about racism.Each character has a bizarre and undeveloped hatred of a racial group. Sandra Bullock's character hates black men. Ludicrous's character hates Asian people. Don Cheadle hates Latino people (but is inexplicably dating a Latina woman?). Why do these people hate these groups? Hell if I know. The movie just sort of assumes that average people are extremely racist for no reason.The audience cannot connect to any character in the movie because every character is extremely and cartoonishly racist. As soon as you think a character is reasonable, they go and say something outlandishly racist and you have to dislike them. This is by design. If a viewer sees 10 characters in a movie who are all racist, the viewer thinks "I'm special because I'm not racist like them." This is meant to make the audience feel good about themselves. With a Best Picture win from the Academy, obviously this strategy worked.Racism is not a black and white phenomenon, there is a lot of gray area. Every person operates with subtle racial biases in their day-to-day lives. A movie like 2017's Get Out depicts this form of "casual racism." Some people are more than just casually racist, and that racism usually stems from something about their background- maybe they were raised in a town where racism was accepted, maybe they had a bad experience with a person of a specific racial group and have since projected that onto an entire ethnic group. The point is that the racism depicted in the movie is unrealistic and harmful to show to audiences, since people will believe it.This movie almost serves as a "field guide" for racist catchphrases. Characters hurl disgustingly racist insults at each other constantly throughout the movie. A person who hopes to use racism to put somebody else down now has this entire movie as an example for funny and clever racist sayings. The actors are given such over-the-top intensely racist dialogue and it is all played in such an overdramatic and serious way that the audience can't help but cringe and feel secondhand embarrassment while watching the movie.The "cathartic" ending to the movie was actually disgusting. Sandra Bullock like sprains her foot and her black maid drives her to the hospital so she has an epiphany and doesn't hate black people anymore. I'm not even joking that actually happens. All the other characters have similar "epiphany" moments so none of them are racist anymore. Portraying racism as a simple thing that can be cured just like that is mind-bogglingly stupid. Racial biases don't just go away, and it's shamefully incorrect to imply that. If racism was easily cured, then it wouldn't be an issue.As I struggle to think of positives about the movie, I have to mention that Ludicrous's acting was actually very good in this movie. He's primarily a musician but he elevated the script really well and had a lot of charisma in his few scenes. I don't know much about his acting career, but he certainly impressed me. Another positive is the cinematography. There are a lot of cool-looking shots with a dynamic camera that is always tracking. There are also a lot of stylish transitions which look nice.In total, Crash isn't just unworthy of its Academy Awards, it's actually one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It is smug, overdramatic, and actually more harmful than good in spreading its anti-racist message. Don't watch this movie.

During this time of Black History Month, racial injustice and discrimination has been much talked about when reflecting back on the Civil Rights Movement. For 'Crash' on the other hand, this is a movie that didn't focus on one race or ethnicity that was harshly ridiculed or even having to suffer at the hands of others who think they are of a higher class. No, instead it was about how racial tension is still out there even in modern times, especially during the aftermath of September 11th still reverberating heavily on some individuals of other ethnic backgrounds at the time.The ensemble cast that features Brendan Fraser, Terrance Howard, Michael Pena, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, and Ryan Philippe provided a point of view of how each of their characters' lives crossed paths in daily life of Los Angeles. While having to deal with racial stereotypes in either the workplace or even out on some of LA's derelict streets, it becomes clear they would do anything to persevere in their own lives no matter what the consequences may be.I found it intriguing that director Paul Haggis (Walker Texas Ranger) wanted us to view the scope of L.A.'s imperfections since he himself stated that one of his inspirations for the movie was a night when he was carjacked in those streets. Upon watching this with a group of colleagues, what I saw in the violence, anger, and hatred; it was all clouded with prejudicial misunderstandings and uncertainty, whether shocking or saddening. When confronted in a harsh scenario, the character would begin to view the context of it differently and thus leading to misconceptions. I was left fascinated that the bigotry and egotistical nature of some of these people were explored in public, when really they can be quite the contrary when in the comfort of their own homes or in the company of family or friends.I'm aware of the debate and controversy that surrounded the Oscars when this won Best Picture back in 2005, but with its tense situations, I can see why it received its many accolades. It's not at all perfect, nor would I say this is a spectacular movie, but compelling enough for me and my colleagues to discuss the issues with one another.The moral: While our paths may cross with one another and not all of them may get off to a good start at first (especially involving who we are or what their lives are like), there's a clear thought of what really matters and that depends on how you see it.

I think this may be one of the most overrated movies ever made, but I understand why it won an Oscar. The LA location and the heavy melodramatic discussion on race makes it perfect for the judges of the Oscars. One scene has Ludicrous giving a speech about how African Americans are viewed as violent, lazy and cheap. He complains about a white woman avoiding them out of fear. He then proceeds to car jack that same woman. This is one of the many examples of what a convoluted mess this movie is. Almost every actor plays a caricature. Racism is a real problem in this country, but this movie does nothing to seriously analyze it.