crash

Crash is an Academy Award-winning drama film directed by Paul Haggis. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2004, and was released internationally in 2005. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. It won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing of 2005 at the 78th Academy Awards.

Reaction

Crash opened in wide release on 6 May 2005, and was a box-office success in the late spring of 2005, with mixed reviews. The film's budget was $6.5 million (plus $1 million in financing). Because of the financial constraints, director Haggis filmed in his own house, borrowed a set from the TV show Monk, used his car in parts of the film, and even used cars from other staff members. It grossed $53.4 million domestically, making back more than three times its budget (roughly 60% of the box office takings of a movie do not return to the financiers but instead pay for distribution costs). Despite its success in relation to its cost, Crash was the least successful film, at the domestic box office, to win Best Picture since The Last Emperor in 1988.

Director Paul Haggis has mentioned work on a sequel to the film, involving the continued story of Anthony — Chris "Ludacris" Bridges' character.

Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert named Crash the best film of 2005 ^[1]. LA Weekly critic Scott Foundas named it the worst film of the year, touching off a debate between the two critics ^[2].

• All Movie Guide link

Plot summary

The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles, California during a 36 hour period and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices. Through these characters' interactions, the film attempts to depict and examine racial tension in the United States.

Cast of characters

Crash features an ensemble cast:

• Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) is the white district attorney of Los Angeles. He and his wife Jean are carjacked by Anthony and Peter (both of whom are black); subsequently, he tries to save his political career by reassuring voters that he is racially sensitive (as he is a Democrat and African Americans and Hispanics are his key demographics). His character is never depicted as a bigot, which makes his racial stance ambiguous. The use of ambiguity by the filmmakers likely asks whether people who make such actions are racially positive or just discriminatory in pursuit of goals.
• Jean (Sandra Bullock) is Rick's white wife, whose racial prejudices escalate after the carjacking. At the end of the film, following an accident in her home, she realizes that the person who is most nice and most helpful to her is Maria, her Hispanic maid, while her snobby friends were too busy with shallow pursuits (such as tanning and getting a massage) to help her out.
• Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) is the stereotypical African American inner city car thief. He believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks. At one point in the film he justifies his actions by saying he would never hurt another black person. Yet, after he and Peter mistakenly try to carjack a car driven by a black man, Cameron, and when Cameron attacks Anthony during the carjacking, Anthony's response is to call on Peter to shoot Cameron.
• Peter (Larenz Tate) is Anthony's friend and partner in crime. Like Anthony, he is black, but he scoffs at Anthony's paranoia over racism. Peter is killed by Officer Hanson, who picks him up in the valley hours after their failed carjacking and mistakenly shoots him after assuming he is drawing a gun, when in reality he was reaching into his pocket to show the cop a figure of Saint Christopher.
• Graham (Don Cheadle) is Peter's brother, and a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department. He is disconnected from his poor family. He promises his mother that he would find his younger brother, but is preoccupied with a case concerning a racist white cop who shot a possibly corrupt black cop. Flanagan offers him a furthering of his career and a clearing of his brother's record, for leaving out what is controversial evidence. Graham, offended and opposed at first, is convinced with some arguments for affirmative action in a private conversation with Flanagan. In the end he makes a very tough decision to leave out the information, putting a possible innocent man behind bars, although important to note, that the man in question had just barely avoided charges on two previous race-related shootings as well. Ironically, Graham withholds evidence, clearing the name of his brother, who is later killed.
• Flanagan (William Fichtner) is an aide to Rick who talks Graham into accepting a corrupt deal, by arguing in strong favor of affirmative action. The corrupt deal outlined by Flanagan was that of furthering of his career, and the clearing of his brother's charges. Although the deal is corrupt, Flanagan plays a small but incredibly important role for the discussion of the theme on positive discrimination, and takes a moral highground to justify his actions. In the end he leaves the decision up to Graham by suggesting that "you're the closest to all of this, you tell us what needs to be done!" (paraphrased), to suggest that maybe enough substantive inequality in a systematically equal society, is justification for the actions taken.
• Ria (Jennifer Esposito) is a Latina detective, Graham's girlfriend, and Maria's daughter.
• Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) is a white police officer who molests Christine, a black woman, during a traffic stop. This causes his partner, Officer Hanson, to believe his partner has racist tendencies. Meanwhile, Ryan is trying to get help for his father, who may possibly have prostate cancer but seems to have been misdiagnosed with a bladder infection. Ryan's racist remarks to a black insurance representative prevent him from getting his father the treatment he needs. His racial prejudices seem to stem in part from the negative impact that local affirmative action-style policies that favored minority businesses had on his father's business, family, and life. Ryan later relieves the viewers of his racist tendencies when he saves Christine from certain death in a fiery car wreck and is seen working with a newly-assigned, Hispanic-American partner whom he seems to show no signs of prejudice towards.
• Cameron (Terrence Howard) is a black television director who becomes distraught after witnessing Officer Ryan molesting his wife and realizing that the very show he produces is propogating racist stereotypes about black people. In an emotional moment, he fights off Anthony and Peter when they try to steal his car, takes away Anthony's gun, and gets himself into a harsh argument with armed white police officers, no longer afraid of losing his Uncle Tom image - or, seemingly, his life. Just when it is very likely that he will be shot to death, Officer Hanson intervenes on his behalf and prevents any outbreak of violence.
• Christine (Thandie Newton) is Cameron's wife. She is molested by Officer Ryan after she and Cameron are pulled over. She becomes very angry with her husband because he does not act while she is being molested, and the next day is trapped in an overturned car due to a highway accident. Her life is saved by Officer Ryan, the very man who molested her.
• Officer Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) is Officer Ryan's partner who is disgusted by his partner's racism and the city's inaction. After trying to get another partner after seeing Ryan molest Christine, Hansen accepts a solo patrol vehicle. Hansen saves Cameron during his confrontation with the police, yet, in a later incident with a hitchhiker who turns out to be Peter, Hanson shoots Peter when Peter reaches for what Hanson suspected was a weapon, but was actually a statue of Saint Christopher. He dumps the body and burns his car in an attempt to hide evidence.
• Daniel (Michael Peña) is a Mexican-American locksmith who faces discrimination from Jean and others because he looks like a "gangbanger" (has tattoos, shaved head) to them, when actually, he is a devoted family man. He is seeking a safe environment for his young daughter, who had a bullet go through her window in their previous home. That is why he moved to a safe neighborhood and enrolled her in a private school. He and his daughter are shot at by Farhad but did not get hurt because the cartridges were blanks.
• Farhad (Shaun Toub) is a Persian store owner who is afraid for his safety. He is depicted as a man frustrated by the racial harassment he experiences in the United States as well as deterred by difficulties with speaking English (despite being an American citizen). To protect his store -- the only thing his family has -- he goes to a gun shop and attempts to buy a gun. His hotheaded attitude leads to racist remarks from the gun store owner, who refuses to sell him a gun. Blaming Daniel for the invasion and racially-motivated destruction of his store, he confronts him at his house and is about to fire a gun at him. Daniel's daughter wears a "special" cloak that, her father has told her, was impenetrable and thus will protect her from bullets. She runs to protect him. Farhad means to shoot at Daniel but accidentally shoots at his daughter in front of him. However, unknown to Farhad and Daniel, it is a blank. The fact that the daughter is not hurt is a great relief, also for Farhad, who thinks an angel intervened, and he leaves without further attacking Daniel.
• Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) is Farhad's daughter, and is more acclimated than her father to the American culture. She also selects the blanks (instead of bullets) to go with her father's new gun from the gun shop in a very calm manner. She is also the doctor at the morgue who escorts Graham and his mother to Peter's body after it is discovered in a field.

Other characters

• Fred, a TV producer (Tony Danza)
• Lt. Dixon of the LAPD (Keith David)
• Shaniqua Johnson, an HMO or insurance representative (Loretta Devine)
• Shereen, presumably Farhad's wife (Marina Sirtis)
• Karen, an assistant to Rick (Nona Gaye)
• Lara, Daniel's daughter (Ashlyn Sanchez)
• Elizabeth, Daniel's wife (Karina Arroyave)
• Motorcycle Cop (Sean Cory)

Criticisms

The majority of criticisms of the film have come from those who found its characters highly stereotypical and two-dimensional, its dialogue melodramatic and unconvincing, and its plot clichéd and unbelievable. Los Angeles film critic Scott Foundas described the film as "the worst movie of the year", while a few have called it one of "the worst Oscar winners of all time". These views have been shared by a few film critics, with the notable exception of critic Roger Ebert, who has vehemently opposed such claims. [1] Many critics, especially those representing minority publications, have claimed that the film is, ironically, highly ignorant and bigoted in its portrayal of its racially diverse set of characters.

As well, the film has been criticized by conservative commentators who feel the movie is not an accurate reflection of race relations in contemporary Los Angeles, particularly with regards to the film's portrayal of police and racial tension.[2]

The film has likewise been criticized by liberal commentators who feel that institutionalized forms of white supremacy and white racism are far more destructive than individual prejudices, and feel that the movie is "self-indulgent" for white Americans who "want to feel victimized too".[3]

In addition, the film has been criticized by members of the Asian community, regarding its reinforcement of Asian stereotypes, and its apparent lack of character development of Asian characters.[4]

Some individuals already consider Crash to be an American film classic. On an episode of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey stated that the film should be in everyone's personal movie library, along with Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca.

Awards

Crash was nominated for six awards in the 78th Academy Awards (2006), and won three of them, including a surprise win of Best Picture, which Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain was widely predicted to take home. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon) and the other for Best Screenplay (Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco). Other awards include Best Ensemble Cast at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Thandie Newton) at the BAFTA Awards, Best Writer at the Critics' Choice Awards, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Terrence Howard) and Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Although it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004, it did not qualify for the 77th Academy Awards, as it was not released theatrically until 2005.

Crash upset frontrunner Brokeback Mountain, as well as Munich, Capote, and Good Night, And Good Luck to the best motion picture Oscar. Crash collected a total of three Oscars, the most of the night, along with Brokeback Mountain, King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha.

78th Academy Awards

• Won: Best Motion Picture
• Won: Best Original Screenplay
• Won: Best Achievement in Film Editing
• Nominated: Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon)
• Nominated: Best Achievement in Direction (Paul Haggis)
• Nominated: Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (In the Deep)

Academy Award criticism

There has been much criticism over Crash winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, as an underdog, over the front-runner Brokeback Mountain. The day after the awards, some journalists wrote articles expressing their dislike over what, in their opinion, was one of the biggest shockers in Oscar history. Brokeback Mountain led the pre-Oscar award season by winning most of the key precursor awards, particularly the Golden Globes as well as earning the leading number of Academy Award nominations (8), and its place on 314 critics top ten lists - more than any other film in 2005. Crash, although critically acclaimed was less so, with Roger Ebert and several other critics calling it "The Best Movie of 2005". In fact, Ebert himself predicted that Crash would win the Oscar for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain on the grounds that it was "a better film."

MSNBC journalist Erik Lundegaard criticized the AMPAS by stating that "The Academy is 78 years old and acting every bit of it, and last night they took another doddering step towards irrelevancy" and "This is the worst best picture winner since The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952."[5]

LA Weekly writer Nikki Finke wrote "Hollywood showed tonight it isn't the liberal bastion it once was. That's pitiful if you're a progressive, and pleasing if you're a conservative." She also accused the Academy of being homophobic, writing "Turns out Hollywood is as homophobic as Red State country. In touch, not out of touch." [6]

The fact that Crash was the least financially successful Best Picture winner in nearly 20 years also raised controversy. Another point of criticism is the fact that no Best Picture winner has won fewer than four total Oscars since Rocky in 1976.

Trivia

• Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial picture appears in the police station. Vice President Dick Cheney's portrait also appears later in the same scene.
• Crash contains more profanity than any other film nominated for the best picture Oscar over the prior five years with 182 expletives, 99 of which are "fuck," according to a report by Family Media Guide.^[3] The only Best Pictures with more expletives are Platoon and Deer Hunter.
• Before Ryan Phillippe signed on, Heath Ledger was in talks for the role of Hanson. Ledger's film Brokeback Mountain would go on to compete as the favorite for the title of Best Picture against Crash. Other first choices include John Cusack as Rick Cabot and Forest Whitaker as Cameron.
• Terrence Howard and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges both appear in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow, for which Howard received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In both films, Howard's character physically assaults Bridges' character.
• Crash, a self-described passion piece for director Paul Haggis, was inspired by a real life incident where his Porsche was carjacked (mentioned on the DVD commentary track) outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard in 1991. Shortly after his personal incident, the Rodney King Riots and O.J. Simpson Trial brought issues of racial tension to the front page of American media.
• A BusinessWeek article on product placement noted that the Lincoln Navigator SUV is featured prominently in the film. [7]
• The California Vehicle Code requires Authorized Emergency Vehicles to have a steady-burning red lamp visible for 1,000 feet to the front of the vehicle. In scene 4, Matt Dillon's character does a car stop on Terence's character. The patrol car has the right kind of California light bar but the light bar is mounted backward with the steady-burning red to the rear. The patrol car in this scene appears in several others with the backward light bar. ^{citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Ebert's Best 10 Movies of 2005
2. ^ Roger and Me: Scott Foundas responds to Ebert's critic-bait
3. ^ http://www.familymediaguide.com/specials/Oscars_2006.html For Entertainment Purposes Only: [FamilyMediaGuide.com Analyzes the 2006 Academy Award Nominees for Best Picture]

External links

• Official site
• Crash at the Internet Movie Database
• Crash at Rotten Tomatoes