Crash (2004)

Rating: 2/10 (21 May 2020)

Most people would agree that America is obsessed with race, certainly its politicians of a certain political bent are. This film is set in Los Angeles only a decade after the O.J. Simpson double murder trial, and before that the disgraceful Rodney King incident which was followed by the even more disgraceful Los Angeles riots after the acquittal of King's uniformed assailants. All the same it is difficult to believe that all the principal characters would have been as obsessed with race as they are portrayed in this film, and it isn't only the whites who are bigots.
Weird happenstances and outrageous coincidences happen every day, but those herein beggar belief, and would a police officer really have sexually assaulted a woman in front of both her husband and his own partner during a traffic stop? In 1985, Anthony Pacho was indicted for fondling shoplifting suspects; although the former Glendale police officer would eventually plead guilty at Los Angeles Superior Court to lesser charges, it is most doubtful if a veteran officer would have jeopardised his pension with the sort of outrage depicted here two decades on.
As for the redemption in this film, bad people can do good things, and do all the time. Alas, there is no redemption for some, including the people behind "Crash".