Great movie which revolves around deep rooted conscious thinking about racism, and cultural prejudice

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2011)

Crash is a thought provoking movie based on a simple premise of following eight characters that represent people from all walks of life. Screenwriter and director Paul Haggis drama revolves around the racial tension and gender stereotypes of a group of strangers in Los Angeles. that is strung out on drugs, and a young thieving brother. Grahams partner Ria (Jennifer Esposito) is also his girlfriend. Jean(Sandra Bullock), the wife of Rick( Brendan Fraser) who is a district attorney in L.A., is highly uncomfortable around anyone unlike herself, and as proof of her personal conviction, her SUV was stolen by two African Americans-Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter(Larenz Tate). Christine, (Thandie Newton) the beautiful wife of Cameron(Terrence Howard), a well to do television producer are pulled over by police officer Ryan (Matt Dillion) who interrogates the couple and sexually harasses Christine while husband Cameron watches on. Cast members Loretts Devine, Ryan Phillipe, and Larenz Tate all give a great performance. The theme of the Crash touches on the exploration of other issues such as racism, cultural prejudice and how people tend to look at others a particular way based on assumptions learned through life. The movie showed how we all live in our own comfortable bubbles, and sometimes we don't think about relating to those of different backgrounds, and socio economic statuses. A great example of another movie that has a similar theme can be seen in the movie Driving Mrs. Daisy. Hoke, played by Morgan Freeman is the chauffeur to a wealthy old Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, played by Jessica Tandy. The way Miss Daisy treated Hoke as though she did not want him around and accused him of stealing from her shows her mindset towards those of a different socio economic class, and racial background. It wasn't until much later on in life that Daisy realized that Hoke was a true friend from the beginning.
In Crash there was a particular scene where scene where Officer Ryan was called to an accident an had to help Christine out of an over turned navigator. The angle in which the scene was shown was upside down from Christine's point of view. The cameras angle and perspective the viewer was able to get a feel for what was happening psychologically to Christine. As the camera moved back and forth in angle, it was easy to see that Christine was clearly in a distraught state, and initially refused Ryan's help. Officer Ryan's previous meeting of Christine came when he pulled her over and sexually harassed her after he verbalized his dislike of her being in the car with a Black man to his partner. Christine's obvious dislike of Ryan is stemming from that previous incident. This type of racism and dislike was prevalent throughout. The lighting is allows used very creatively throughout the movie. The incident when Officer Randy pulled over a Christine and Cameron was done in the evening. The lighting was adjusted so that the audience could see the details of what was going on in the scene clearly, but dark enough to portray the mystery of the event taking place. In the beginning everyone lives in their own bubble and tend to look at those outside of their bubble as alien. Not realizing that we all are the same seems to be the major expulsion throughout the picture. Realizing to be careful how you treat others, because you never know when you are going to meet or need that person in the future. Crash uses racism and cultural prejudice in combination with synergistic fate as a way to draw and keep the audience attention, and what a great good they did.