BuzzFlash Reviews
August 31, 2005
Crash (DVD)
BUZZFLASH REVIEWS
2006
Academy Award Winner for Best Picture!
The film "Crash" is Hollywood's most poignant creation in recent memory about the complexity of race in America. It is an astonishing, powerful and irreverent film that is worth watching and highly recommended by BuzzFlash.com.
By shattering the confines of political correctness and allowing the characters to say what they truly feel about race in America, "Crash" steers the race issue away from "the melting pot" or "mosaic" myth, and instead sets the characters on a course to collide into one another, literally and figuratively. Set in southern California in a 36-hour timeframe, the plot unfolds similar to such films as "Magnolia" and "Short Cuts" as we witness how the actions of one-character ripples out and affects another, sometimes spiraling back full circle.
"Crash" is written and directed by Paul Haggis –- who also wrote and directed the Academy Award Winning film, "Million Dollar Baby" -– and is supported by an ensemble cast giving stellar performances including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, the rapper Ludacris and others.
The genius of "Crash" is that it tackles race head-on using humor, irreverence and drama but it does not lapse into self-righteousness or simplistic answers. Also layered amongst the film are issues of class, political corruption, police brutality, gender roles, fear and personal safety, urban violence and poverty.
The film opens on the scene of a mysterious car accident where a police detective finds a body. Then the story flashbacks to the previous day and unfolds the intertwined lives of a group of people, and the results are amazing and complex. A Latino locksmith installing a burglar alarm faces the racism from a suburban woman who was recently car jacked by two black men. Although she demands that a white locksmith install the alarm, the Hispanic man who looks potentially like a rough character with his tattoos, is actually a father working hard and trying to protect his little girl from the violence engulfing his neighborhood. A black detective is sleeping with his female partner, a Puerto Rican woman, while trying to help his own brother whose caught up in drugs. A white cop asks his black supervisor to reassign him after he witnesses his white partner abuse an upperclass black couple. But the black supervisor demands that he will only reassign his officer if he removes any mention of the racist actions because the black supervisor is up for promotion.
This highly successful and critically acclaimed film should be a wakeup call to studio executives that Americans are captivated by compelling stories with relevance to our daily lives over the typical cookie cutter approach.
"Crash" is an outstanding movie worthy of all its praise.
BUZZFLASH REVIEWS