Crash (2004) Film Review

This movie was directed by Paul Haggis. There is a lot of star power in this movie, some of which include Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Ludacris and many more. This movie has won 3 Oscars and has had another 65 wins and 81 nominations; this suggests that it was a very successful movie. The genre of this movie is drama.

During this movie you continuously see racial based prejudice and stereotypes, making it the central theme of the movie. The audience sees racism to all cultures and colours, from the rich to the poor and the powerful to the powerless; all the characters become victims of it but are also guilty of it. The director did a very good job of interlocking multiple stories into one, the lives of the characters crash into one another by coincidence, serendipity and luck. This movie clearly teaches the audience not to make assumptions about people because they prevent us from seeing who people really are. For example, Jean (Sandra Bullock) wrongly accuses a Mexican locksmith as a gang member because he has a “shaved head, pants around his ass, the prison tattoo”, where in fact he is a caring family man. There are also examples from this movie that show people are aware of their stereotypes, and decide to live up to them. This is seen when the characters Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate) are having a conversation about how people treat/look at them differently because of their skin colour.

Anthony: Look around! You can't find a whiter, safer, better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gang-bangers? Huh? No. Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared around here, it's us: We're the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the trigger happy LAPD. So you tell me, why aren't we scared?

Peter: Because we have guns?

Anthony: You could be right.

Right after this, they both run up to the white woman and her husband and pull out their guns to threaten them and end up stealing their car. This was very shocking to me as they were so offended by the stereotypes people have of them, yet they turned out to be that stereotype.

After an extreme turn of events, towards the end of the movie the characters come to the realisation that stereotypes don't apply to everyone. Some examples of this are when Jean (Sandra Bullock) confesses to her maid Maria that "You're the best friend I've got", this is after she realises that no one else was there for her when she needed them most. Another example is when Officer Tom Hansen shoots Peter, because he thought he was in danger of Peter pulling out a gun on him, when in fact it was a St. Christopher statue that he had to keep him safe. This teaches the audience not to jump to conclusions about someone as it might lead to some horrible consequences.

Additionally, at the end of the movie it starts snowing which represents purification of the characters actions as the negative things are being covered with snow, which gives a sense of freedom. This was foreshadowed at the beginning of the film when Waters says he is freezing and a detective says "I heard it might snow", this is significant as it very rarely snows in Los Angeles, which implies that anything can happen, giving viewers hope. The last scene of the movie is a car crash and some more angry racist comments, just like the movie started; this suggests that people will never learn to stop being racist towards one another.

In conclusion, although I do believe the central theme of the movie is racism, I don’t think it’s what the movie is truly about. I think Haggis used racism as a catalyst for the actions and reactions found in the movie. He based them on race as it is one of the first things we notice when we look at someone. Haggis says “it’s a story about strangers, and how we affect strangers”. So yes, this creative film is well worth a few hours of your time.