CRASH REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

It's an incredibly challenging task for a film to affect an audience emotionally, especially in a drama. The audience has to connect with the characters in the film and that can only happen if the actors portraying the characters give an effective performance. Fortunately, mainly because of the actors' performances and the compelling narrative, this is a moving motion picture and won two Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay in 2005.

I first watched Crash in my Religious Studies class in high school as one of the biggest themes featured in this film is racism. After watching this film, it really did make me think about this world that we live in. In my class, we discussed prejudice and discrimination, another two themes that feature heavily in this film. From this film, I learnt that the aforementioned themes are still a problem facing our world today. Too many people are judging and discriminating others based on their skin colour, race, sexuality, background, ect. In my opinion, I think that if everyone watched this film, they would stop discriminating. I also think that this film affects people in different ways, based on what they've been through. 

This has received mixed reviews despite its Academy Award win. I've seen a lot of people say that it's overrated but, to be honest, I think that it's underrated. I hadn't heard of this film until I watched in my RS class as I was too young to watch it when it was released in 2004. I do think that if you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth a watch.

Over a thirty-six hour period in Los Angeles, a handful of disparate people's lives intertwine as they deal with the tense race relations that belie life in the city. Among the players are: the Caucasian district attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), who uses race as a political card; his Caucasian wife Jane (Sandra Bullock), who, having recently been carjacked by two black men, believes that her stereotypical views of non-whites is justified and cannot be considered racism; the two black carjackers, Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate) who use their race both to their advantage and as an excuse; partnered Caucasian police constables, John Ryan (Matt Dillon), who is a racist and uses his authority to harass non-whites, and the other, Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) who hates his partner because of those racist views, but who may have the same underlying values in his subconscious; a black film director, Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his black wife, Christine (Thandie Newton), who believes her husband doesn't support their black background enough, especially in light of an incident with John Ryan; partnered police detectives and sometimes lovers, one Hispanic female, Ria (Jennifer Esposito) and the other black male, Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), the latter who is dealing with a drugged out mother that feels he isn't concerned enough about taking care of family; a Persian store owner, Farhad (Shaun Toub) who feels he isn't getting satisfaction from American society when his store is robbed time and time again and a Hispanic locksmith, Daniel Ruiz (Michael Pena) who just wants to keep his family, especially his young daughter, safe in a seemingly unsafe world.

Yes, there are a lot of characters but, to me, that is what made it a more engaging motion picture. I felt uncomfortable during certain scenes in the film but that's where it succeeds. I think that Haggis' goal was to make people think about the film and he achieves it. I watched this film back in 2012, when I was 15, and then again in 2015 and I still think about this film, especially with the tragic shootings that have recently happened. The characters may be fictional but their stories are real and will have happened to someone at some point, unfortunately. 

(SPOILER ALERT) I think the scene that affected me the most was towards the end when Peter is picked up by Hansen and notices that he has a small statuette of St. Christopher on his dashboard and says that he has one just like it in his pocket and reaches in his pocket to show it to him. Unfortunately, Hansen thinks that he is reaching for a gun and shoots him. It's a really shocking scene. I think the reason why it affected me so much because it's so similar to the events that are happening today. A black man was recently shot because a police officer thought he was reaching for a gun. This isn't just a 'mistake', it's blatant racism. 

(SPOILER ALERT) Another scene that stood out to me was when Christine ended up in a car crash and almost died. Fortunately, John Ryan managed to rescue her in time but the only problem is, earlier in the film, Ryan sexually molested her in front of her husband and his fellow police officer. When Christine recognises him, she doesn't want to be saved and doesn't want him to touch her. After he rescues her, she is immediately taken away by medics but the camera focuses on Ryan and his reaction. You can tell by his expression that he's thinking about what he did and wondering that, if he hadn't of molested her, would she willingly let him save her?

This film made me appreciate the life I live and feel fortunate that I've never been in a situation like the characters in the film. It made me think about what I would do if I was a certain character. Would I have done what they did? Or would I have done the same thing? What would be the right thing to do?

Crash is an emotionally moving film that will connect and affect audiences of all backgrounds based on what they've been through. 

8/10