Racist Trash

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2008)

Crash (2004)
** (out of 4)
Various characters in L.A. go through various racial situations before they all "crash" in the end. I'm really not sure if I should give this film a BOMB rating or four stars so I'll just settle on a two star rating. There's no denying that there's some truly remarkable stuff in this film but in the end I couldn't help but feel there wasn't any point to this movie. Black people are thugs. White people are scared of blacks for no reason. Foreigners can't speak English. Racist whites molest black women. Blacks are ashamed to be black so they act white. What the hell was all of this suppose to mean in the end? There's no doubt racism is still a thing in this world but good God this film pushes everything to the limit. I'm sitting here typing this and I really don't know what to say. I watched this movie with the girl I mentioned a few posts back and afterwards we went out to get a drink and discuss the film. She didn't know what to say either. As with the screenplay, this write up will probably be all over the place but that's where this film left my mind.
I had a very hard time taking anything in this film too serious because everything is just so over the top. The racial stuff in this film are more make belief than anything we'd see in a science fiction film and I'd say even Planet of the Apes is more realistic than this thing. Writer/director Paul Haggis writes a screenplay that is constantly preaching at the viewer and hitting the viewer over their head with his "message", which is a message no one needs to hear. Everyone knows we shouldn't hate just because of the color of our skin. This crap was talked about with various Sidney Poitier films back in the more racist 60's so this film is doing nothing new. It's not saying anything new. Also, unlike those Poitier films, this one here doesn't work because of all the preaching.
Also, I read a few reviews that said the racists are redeemed in the end making this a very positive film but I've got to laugh at this as well. Not once did I feel I was watching a movie with characters but I saw all of these characters being pulled on a string. The screenplay shows us how ugly these racist people are and in the matter of one day they are peaceful and love all races. Again, bullshit. How long has racism been a part of this world? Since Christ walked the streets, right? And now this message film is redeemed because all these racists turn the other way over a day? Another factor that really bothered me is something I hate in a lot of movies. It seems if a movie wants to be cute they get a cute little kid under the age of 5 to say a cuss word. This makes everyone in the crowd smile saying how cute it was to see a cute kid say a bad word. Talk about hypocrites but back to this film. The locksmith has a cute little daughter and the director jerks the viewer by giving her several cute little speeches, daddy tells her a cute story and then the director has us believe something bad happens to the kid. Again, just more preaching.
The greatest thing about the movie is its cast, all of which deserve Oscar nominations (with the exception of Sandra Bullock). Matt Dillon really steals the show as the racist cop and Terrence Howard really caught my eye as well. Of all the redemption stories the one dealing with Dillon is the only one that works because we get to know him the best of the group even though he's one of the worst characters here. The scene with the overturned car was very powerful and the "message" here got across very well without having to preach.
I've written the above and so far have taken three smoke breaks because I'm trying to think of more to say but can't. I really, really, really wanted to love this film but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm smart enough to know a white cop shouldn't molest a black woman and I don't need a film preaching to me about that. In 2005 we look back at dozens of films from the 1910s-1940s and call them racist in a bad way. I'm curious to know how people are going to look at films like this one in the year 2085.