Crash, Burn, and Learn...

“Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other. (Crash)” “Crash” is a movie where just that happens. A group of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, and others lives will collide during the 36 hours portrayed during the film. Paul Haggis writes so well that the characters seem very real after only a few words, it’s almost like you know them. The way that Haggis also directs the film with close-up shots, makes you feel as if you are a character in this movie.

The movie “Crash” was written and produced by Paul Haggis. The movie won three academy awards for best picture, best original screenplay, and best editing. If you don’t know him for his work with “Crash” or “Million Dollar Baby”, you may Haggis from his TV work where he co-created the series Walker, Texas Ranger.

The movie starts and ends with the same scene. A car crash. In between, there are many ‘collision’s’ of life between all of the characters and many different races. Two black men complaining about being discriminated against for being black suddenly turn around and carjack a well dressed white couple. After the carjacking, the couple who happens to be the district attorney and his wife head back to their house. Sandra Bullock, the wife, criticizes the man who is replacing the locks on their homes because he ‘looks’ like he belongs to a gang and that his ‘homies’ are going to come back later to break into their home.

While all of this is going on two white cops make a so-called routine traffic stop where a wealthy black TV producer and his wife are humiliated to no end. We later see into the so-called Latino ‘gang’ members’ life that was repairing the locks earlier. He’s a family man who is trying to do well for his family so they don’t constantly have to hear gun shots. An Iranian man buys a guy although his daughter advises him not too. A black cop is having an affair with his Latino partner, while he tries to protect his brother from his life of crime. The story eventually twists and the two cops, in very different situations, end up finding themselves saving the lives of the black TV director and his wife.

I would recommend for anyone to see this movie. I would give it a nine on a scale of one to ten. The movie covers many themes and issues, with the most obvious one being race. There are many movies which depict race and try to show other ways to overcome race, “but "Crash" finds a way of its own. It shows the way we all leap to conclusions based on race -- yes, all of us, of all races, and however fair-minded we may try to be -- and we pay a price for that. If there is hope in the story, it comes because as the characters crash into one another, they learn things, mostly about themselves. Almost all of them are still alive at the end, and are better people because of what has happened to them. Not happier, not calmer, not even wiser, but better. Then there are those few who kill or get killed; racism has tragedy built in. Roger Ebert”

For me, the movie brought many concerns to mind. I try to think of myself mostly as a non-racist person who only believes in a few stereotypes. After watching this movie, it really made me think about who I am and what I believe. The way that Haggis writes the screenplay, it makes you feel as if you really are one of the characters in the movie. This movie with all of its coldness and cruelty makes you step back and consider how you live your life. Are you more racist than you thought? Do certain actions you make affect others of different races? I feel that if everyone watched this movie and tried to change at least one thing in their life like how they act or think about a certain race, the world would really be making progress. Step by step we could make progress until all racism in the world is obliterated. Crash helps us to begin these steps.

Of course I’m sure there are those of you out there who are skeptical, racism is too rampant, people have set beliefs, how is one movie going to change all that? We would never know the full impact that a movie like this could make in the world unless we each took a chance. So I urge you, watch this movie, learn something about yourself, and try to change something. Even if you don’t change the world, at least you’ll wake up in the morning knowing that you’ve done something to help prevent/change racism.