Just OK

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2011)

Crash (2004) is set in Los Angeles and follows the lives of several different and seemingly unconnected characters over a 48 hour period. Among them are a District Attorney Cabot (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Jean, LAPD officer Waters (Don Cheadle) who is estranged from his mother, a racist LAPD officer Ryan (Matt Dillon) and his young, idealist partner, officer Hanson (Ryan Phillippe), and a director, Cameron Thayer (Terrance Howard) and his wife, Christine (Thandie Newton).
The main themes in the movie are that everyone is racist to a certain degree, and that there is good and bad in each of us. The film explores these motifs within each character arc. The movie opens with a scene at a car accident involving the Thayer's. Officer Ryan gets out of his patrol car to investigate the incident, and when Christine becomes argumentative after Ryan orders the couple out of the car, the angry Ryan molests Christine under the guise of a pat down. Cameron witnesses his wife's violation but says nothing. Christine is angry with Cameron because he didn't stand up to the white officer and defend her. Toward the end of the movie, Christine is involved in another, more serious car accident and becomes trapped inside her vehicle. Officer Ryan again responds to the scene and finds that the woman he molested the day before is the woman who is trapped. Christine screams for Ryan to go away, but Ryan is able to convince her to allow his help. This story line displays both central motifs and the dialogue in the film is the central vehicle used to carry the theme.
The theme in Crash is similar to the theme for the movie American History X. Each movie revolves around racial prejudice, though the racism is more extreme and in your face in American History X. And in both movies, some of the central characters find a degree of redemption by finding the good in themselves. In Crash, I think one of the moments of redemption was the scene with Jean and her housekeeper, Maria after Jean's fall. Throughout the movie, Jean has been angry, bitter, and extremely prejudice against the characters that were not white. Just before the fall, Jean attempts to reach out to a friend for help and is turned away. After the fall, Maria, who has been the recipient of Jean's cruelty, is the only one willing to help. Jean realizes that the woman whom she has treated so badly is the only friend she has. I think this scene is meant to be a turning point for Jean and that with her realization she will begin to reevaluate how she treats others. Every action has a reaction, and by the end of the film, each character had witnessed the damage their racist behavior had caused.