Crash (dir. Paul Haggis)

[mrpancake]

Bumped for a somewhat surprise best picture winner. Yay for them. Loved the movie, thought it was the best this year, though that's quite unpopular around here.

Also, Iranians speak Farsi, I think. At least I know my Iranian acquaintance speaks Farsi at home.

[redpanda]

I just heard it won Best Film. I thought it was an ok film, not worth winning an award. It laid the whole race thing on too thick. I felt myself cringe when Loretta Devine was on screen playing the role she always does, the loud sassy Black woman. And the whole Tony Danza bt should have been left on the cutting room follow.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Blech. Heavy-handed and way too full of unbelievably contrived coincidences. I just couldn't take it seriously. Every single scene is about hitting you over the head with the racism skillet. Racism is definitely part of our everyday lives, but it rarely takes forms that blatant. It is a quietly destructive force. I would have loved it if Hollywood could have made a more realistic film about how racism shapes people's beliefs in ways they are afraid to enunciate.

[Deleted]

babyfishmouth said:

Blech. Heavy-handed and way too full of unbelievably contrived coincidences. I just couldn't take it seriously. Every single scene is about hitting you over the head with the racism skillet. Racism is definitely part of our everyday lives, but it rarely takes forms that blatant. It is a quietly destructive force. I would have loved it if Hollywood could have made a more realistic film about how racism shapes people's beliefs in ways they are afraid to enunciate.

So true! In a way, this film may actually do more harm than good. It paints racism as something explicit that shows up in angry confrontations an racial slurs. In reality, I think racism is something a lot more hidden. Ultimately Crash didn't adress this reality and problem(that racism is often unspoken) which can be a major hindrance in ever properly adressing racism and in what forms it exists.

[anne]

I really disagree with the notion that the movie didn't address the unspoken aspects of racism. IMO, the best part about the movie was that it didn't portray "good guys" who weren't racist, and "bad guys" who were. Rather, it pointed out that just about EVERYbody has both good and bad in them. Most of the time when racism is dealt with, it's a loudly spoken black vs white thing. This movie dealt with that, but it dealt with so much more. IMO, it held a mirror up to everyone, and challenged all of us to consider where we fall among the characters. We're all guilty of racist moves from time to time, and that's the point of the movie.

I thought Brokeback was a great movie. I did not see GNGL, Capote, and can't even remember the fifth nominee. But of the films I saw (nominated and those that some think were snubbed in nominations) I think Crash was most deserving. The acting was great, the complexity of the story was handled well, the editing was great. It was also the movie that stuck with me the longest after seeing it.

[Binky]

I hated Crash. I go to the movies to see movies, not anvils. I thought the only good thing about it was the acting. The plot was absolutely ridiculous.

Screw the Oscars. I hope they know I watched a pirated version of Crash in my living room.

[heyalice]

really disagree with the notion that the movie didn't address the unspoken aspects of racism. IMO, the best part about the movie was that it didn't portray "good guys" who weren't racist, and "bad guys" who were. Rather, it pointed out that just about EVERYbody has both good and bad in them. Most of the time when racism is dealt with, it's a loudly spoken black vs white thing. This movie dealt with that, but it dealt with so much more. IMO, it held a mirror up to everyone, and challenged all of us to consider where we fall among the characters. We're all guilty of racist moves from time to time, and that's the point of the movie.

Well said.
I voted for it to win because I smelled the tides turning before the GGs.

[Maddiemoo]

In what crazy world am I living in where this is the best picture of the year? Ye gads.

[Neurochick]

maddiemoo said:

In what crazy world am I living in where this is the best picture of the year? Ye gads.

Sadly, we're living in the USA. Thank goodness the BAFTA's got it right.

Oh, and "Crash" isn't playing in theaters anymore, it's out on DVD.

[Deleted]

This article does better job of articulating my problems with Crash. After the first couple of paragraphs it goes into why Crash is such a weak film imo.

Here’s my take. Yes, we all bear some form of racism — that’s obvious. Yes, we all “stereotype” other races in some fashion — that’s obvious. (Particularly obvious in the Los Angeles of “Crash,” where so many characters are stereotypes.) But, no, we don’t easily give voice to our racist sentiments. And that’s why “Crash” rings so false.

The Crash Quiz
Here, let’s take a little quiz. Say you’re an Asian woman who has just rear-ended the car in front of you. What do you do? Do you…

1. Wait in your car until a police officer arrives
2. Exchange licenses with the driver of the other car
3. Notice that the driver of the other car is someone who looks like Jennifer Esposito, immediately assume she’s Mexican-American (as opposed to, say, Italian-American), and then tell the African-American police officer that “Mexicans no know how to drive.”