crash

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2006)

!!!!! (Possible Spoilers Ahead) !!!!!
The movie Crash, which is directed by Paul Haggis, has violence depicted throughout the entire film. In Hollywood movies where violence is the focal point, films typically consists of physical brutality in which weapons, explosions, and killings are used. In the extremely violent movie, Crash, emotional violence, however, takes precedence over the physical violence. There are very few scenes in this film in which the characters are exempt from receiving or performing physical and/or emotional cruelty. Through this observation, my initial response to the film was that the director had gone too far in his depiction of our society and the appalling way we treat and view others. After further consideration of the film, however, I realized the scenes needed to be intense in order to really show us how racism, stereotyping, and discrimination thrive in our society and the damaging effects that these actions have on everyone. When thinking about my initial opinion of this film, Roger Ebert sums it up effectively in his article " Passion of Christ," he states, ''evaluate a film on the basis of what it intends to do, not what I think it should have done." Haggis's offensive and graphic scenes are needed to show us that, unfortunately, racism, stereotyping, and discrimination are alive and flourishing in our society.
Racism runs abundant in this movie. When the issue of racism comes up, one tends to think of a particular skin color or class that is affected, but in this movie we see that racism affects all of us. It showed us that no matter what a person's nationality, skin color or financial status may be, no one is excluded from this form of violence. In Crash, we see the discrimination of Asians against other Asians, cops against other cops, peers against fellow peers, and of course the more frequently seen, one race against another race. In our society today, as in the movie, this should not be the norm. Our lives are all intertwined on a daily basis and based on this fact alone, we should all live as one group of people, one group of Americans, not as individual groups that tend to be based on racial, ethnic or social status. This message was conveyed well by Haggis. Throughout the movie characters from different backgrounds and groups are introduced and one by one these characters become involved in each others lives through mere chance. Unfortunately, because of the common acts of discrimination and racism, the way in which these characters become involved with one another is not in a positive manner. The inappropriate words or actions of one person typically affect many people, not just the intended victim as seen in this film. Racism, discrimination, and violence seem to have a snowball effect.
The snowball effect of violence is seen in the movie when two young African American men carjack a prominent, married, white couple. The anger the young African American men feel about their position in life makes them see their deviant actions as being valid. They feel because they are not taking from "their own kind" that their violent actions, such as the carjacking, are justifiable. At this point, the prominent white couple is the victim. The wife then turns her anger towards another person, the locksmith that comes to her home to change the locks due to the carjacking. Her anger from being the victim is now directed at the locksmith. The locksmith happens to be Hispanic with a tattoo. To the wife, he is nothing but a "gang banger" who is going to sell a copy of her house key to some other deviant person. He is now the wife's victim through the act of stereotyping. She is stereotyping this man because of what he looks like, not who he is. The African American men feel initially they are the victims of society, the wife then became the victim, to be followed by the locksmith. This cycle of discrimination will undoubtedly continue, unless society decides to stop this type of behavior.
Although the focus in the movie is on the negative side of society, the end of the movie does show that there is compassion in this world. One of the men who participated in the carjacking ends up saving the lives of about 10 people who were brought over from Asia to be illegally sold. The carjacker could have made five hundred dollars per Asian, but instead he decided not to take the money and let the Asian people go free. This part of the movie shows that society does have compassion for others, but it is up to each individual whether to express this generous trait or not. The way in which society responds to daily life situations will ultimately affect many others. Haggis does a great job conveying this message. The characters in this film were too harsh, too cruel, and too violent but the scenes, I feel, needed to be viewed in the manner to really open our eyes to the emotional violence that still exists in our society today.