One of the Academy Award winner for Best Movies is the film Crash, whose plot is set in LA and is about two days in the lives of various, disparate people as series of interconnecting vignettes. People of various ethic and racial backgrounds collide with each other to create these vignettes, so everyone learns a lesson from the collisions and changes. Crash takes a provocative, brave look at the complexities of racial tolerance among Americans and shows us good and ugly sides of humanity.
Several stories interweave for two days involving in a collection of interrelated characters, and the problems each encounter. These include a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated wife, a racist LAPD cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the LAPD cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his lovely little daughter. One example of how these characters are interweaved is portrayed on the first night, where a white couple, a socialite (Sandra Bullock) and district attorney (Brandon Fraser) are carjacked at gunpoint by two black teenagers. At home, the wife takes out her anger on the Hispanic locksmith who is changing the door locks to their home. She thinks the locksmith is a gang member because of his appearance and tattoos. The wife's conduct shows the racial tension.
Crash is backed an excellent cinematography. The pictures capture the actors' facial expressions, which suitably detail key moments of the characters' aching pain, fear, anger, bitter anguish, grief, and love, far better than any dialogue could. For instance, a great screen shot is on the second day; the LAPD cop becomes a hero. The black Hollywood director's wife has had a car accident. Her car is turned upside down, and gas is leaking. Nearby, another crashed car has caught on fire; moreover, the fire is coming to her car. We know that within minutes her car will explode. At this time, the LAPD cop who sexually assaulted her the night during the traffic stop gets into her car and tries to save her life. When she sees him, she starts crying and says that everyone can help her except him. The LAPD cop tells her the car will explode soon and promises not to do anything like before. In order to prove his promise, he carefully pulls her skirt down to cover her legs. His words and actions gain the black woman's trust, and she lets him help her to get out of the car. However, the fire finally comes to the car. At this moment, the LAPD cop's co-workers pull him out of the car, but he pushes the co-workers back, leaving them behind, running into the fire, pulling the black woman out of her car. They hold each other and run away from the car as it suddenly explodes. In this scene, the actors portray the pain, fear, and grief of their characters from their facial expression.
The best scene of the entire movie is on the second day. After the Persian storeowner's shop is robbed, the police tells him the insurance company won’t give him compensation, for the locksmith has told him that his door needed to be replaced. The storeowner is very sad when he hears the news and considers the locksmith a robber, so he makes a wrong decision to seek revenge on the locksmith. The storeowner tracks the locksmith down his house and gets out of his car, caring a gun, his face full of hared and anger. When the locksmith comes home, he points the gun at the locksmith and yells at him to give his money back. Immediately, the locksmith shows his confusion on his face. While they are arguing, the locksmith's little girl runs her dad and jumps into his arms. Right at this moment, the storeowner is out of control and open fires. The locksmith and his wife both cry out because they think their daughter could be wounded. The storeowner is stunned when he sees that he has accidently shot at the little girl. Everything seems frozen until we hear the little girl says she is ok, and she can protect her father now, and then everyone goes back to reality. The locksmith touches his daughter's back and doesn’t find a wound. The storeowner says she is an angel and leaves their home. Everything becomes peaceful--no hatred and no anger. Crash shows the love between the father and daughter, and this pure love can ease hatred between the men. Crash indicates that people should not judge others by their race and different behavior.
Crash is only suitable for adults because it is rated “R”. It gives cinema viewers an opportunity to examine our own pre-conceptions about race relations and how we treat each other and what we think of ourselves. Crash reminds us of the importance of tolerance as it ventures beyond color lines into the gray areas between black and white. Crash still reminds us of our humanity so that we can share our humanity and understand each other. It is the only way that we can truly try to wipe out prejudice.
