Upon its arrival in theatres during the spring of 2005,Paul Haggis’Crashearned astounding acclaim from the likes of legendary criticRoger Ebert. As one of the drama’s strongest supporters, Ebert cited its ambitious approach in taking interconnected characters, sharing insights about their unpredictable behavior on and off the street, andmaking the audience feel sympathy regardless of their background and beliefs.Crashwould go on to win theOscar for “Best Picture”,an honor widely criticized today as a big mistakeon the Academy’s part.
For all its praise by Ebert and other critics for being a realistic portrayal of modern racial tensions in America post-Rodney Kingverdictin Los Angeles, the reappraisal ofCrashcan be viewed as overdramatizing an emotionally charged subject matter. Instead of a single-minded focus on race relations from limited perspectives, Haggis tries to tackle too many subjects all at once against the backdrop of a societal and cultural melting pot. What should be a powerful examination of inherent racial prejudice in the human condition is treated by Haggis as Hollywood Oscar bait, featuringan all-star cast and distracting cameos that unintentionally makeCrashappear inauthentic.
‘Crash’ Aims to Virtue Signal About People Having Inner Prejudice Towards One Another
Within a two-hour running time set during a48-hour period,Crashtries to mesh multiple story arcs all within the context of some form of racial tension. Among these storylines include an LAPD detective (Don Cheadle) investigating the shooting of a black undercover cop at the hands of a Caucasian cop; a privileged district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his openly prejudiced wife (Sandra Bullock) dealing with the aftermath of being victims of a carjacking; a bigoted cop (Matt Dillon) whose abuse of power during a traffic stop leads to tensions between an upper-class couple (Terrance HowardandThandiwe Newton); and a working-class locksmith (Michael Peña) who becomes suspected for burglary by a Persian store owner (Shaun Toub).
These are just some of the many tales inCrashthat attempt to cover racial profiling, affirmative action, stereotypes on television, health care, and other systemic issues reflecting reality. In dealing with such complicated issues, however, the effort to cover each of these subtopics comes with an in-your-face tone more serious thanRobert Altman’s laid-back approach to interconnected character arcs. Ultimately,Crashcomes off as laughable asLawrence Kasdan’s 1991 L.A.-set social dramaGrand Canyon. Similar to the Kasdan film, the conflicts within every character’s relationship inCrashare expressed fully upfront and to the extremes of vile insults.There is no subtlety to any of the scenes, even if they were written to be lifted from everyday newspaper headlines.
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Crashaims to virtue signal while weaving traces of hypocrisy early on when two young black men (Larenz TateandLudacris) in urban attire are having a conversation about racial profiling after being bounced out of an upscale restaurant. The scene almost wants to get the audience to relate to a disturbing situation until the men turn around to carjack Fraser and Bullock’s characters at gunpoint. While Tate and Ludacris’ characters have revealing backstories that unfold dramatically later in the story, the payoff to their criminal actions at the expense of feeling mistreated by society is never truly earned.
‘Crash’ Suffers From Unsympathetic, Underwritten Characters
Many ofCrash’s characters are written as one-note bystanders, victims, and even flat-out racist to otherswithout distinct underlying layers to make them compelling. It even tries to reflect a post-9/11attitude towards Middle Eastern citizens, with Toub’s character written as an uptight, angry store owner looked down upon by a white gun owner in one scene and then redirecting his hate to Peña in another. Made worse with this subplot is howCrashwants to be unrealistically sentimental when a near tragedy with Peña’s young daughter at the hands of Toub becomes a ridiculous God-given miracle that makes everyone stop to reflect on the state of their lives.
Butthe worst offense ofCrashis making the audience believe racism can be resolved if bad people redeem themselvesin times of danger and tragedy. Dillon’s bigoted LAPD cop is made to be reviled when he physically violates Newton during a body search as part of his disgust for the black community taking opportunities away from his culture. Then the film attempts to humanize Dillon’s hate not only through his struggle to get health coverage for his ailing father, but also the deus ex machina moment of saving Newton after a car accident. The expectation that the audience can compromise their feelings for an otherwise unsympathetic character only adds to Haggis’ manipulative contrivance of a serious subject matter.
If one were to seek a movie that honestly tackles American race relations, films such asThe Hate U GiveandDo the Right Thinghandle the subject manner with nuance as well as a true perspective from experienced black filmmakers and screenwriters. Ebert’s “intense fascination” withCrashappears to overlook the fact that the uninspired, interconnected stories overall only spark conversation about the film’s shortcomings rather than seeking solutions to a never-ending global epidemic.
