Watch it for its faults

Rating: 5/10 (26 March 2006)

"Crash" is about a set of different people in different contexts doling out and receiving racial discrimination. The first half deals with the crime, the second with the reformation. An otherwise caring police officer (who takes care of his ailing father in his old age) is a perverted racist. An Iranian who runs a shop and who is very sensitive to attacks on his wife and daughter, thinks nothing of suspecting a young black mechanic of cheating on his job. The movie's characters are far too properly representative to be random (mix of young/ old, black/ brown/ white, large/ small etc etc) and undergo experiences which are far too in-your-face to ring true. Also, ridden with coincidences (like the same officer Matt Dillon rescuing the black damsel in distress, the same black customer service rep at the insurance company meeting Matt Dillon when he comes over to their office etc) looks like this movie is almost made into a parable with a moral to take home. The movie lacks subtlety and I, for one, fail to understand how it won the "Best Movie" at the Oscars. Watch it for its faults, but don't expect this movie to change your world view.