Crash (2004 film)

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For the 1996 film of the same title, see Crash (1996 film).

Crash
Promotional poster of Crash
Directed by	Paul Haggis
Produced by	Don Cheadle Paul Haggis Mark R. Harris Robert Moresco
Written by	Paul Haggis Bobby Moresco
Starring	Sandra Bullock Don Cheadle Matt Dillon Jennifer Esposito William Fichtner Brendan Fraser Terrence Howard Chris "Ludacris" Bridges Thandie Newton Ryan Phillippe Larenz Tate
Music by	Mark Isham
Cinematography	J. Michael Muro
Editing by	Hughes Winborne
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films, DEJ Productions, Bob Yari Productions
Release date(s)	September 10, 2004 (premiere at TIFF) May 6, 2005 12 May 2005 12 August 2005 June 22, 2006
Running time	113 min 115 min (Director's Edition DVD)
Country	USA / Germany
Language	English
Budget	$6.5 million
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Crash is an Academy Award-winning drama film directed by Paul Haggis. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2004, and was released internationally in 2005. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. It won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing of 2005 at the 78th Academy Awards.

1 Reaction
- 1.1 Reviews
2 Plot summary
- 2.1 Cast of characters
3 Criticisms
4 Awards
- 4.1 78th Academy Awards
5 DVD
6 Trivia
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Reaction

Crash opened in wide release on 6 May 2005, and was a box-office success in the late spring of 2005, mostly positive reviews. The film's budget was $6.5 million (plus $1 million in financing). Because of the financial constraints, director Haggis filmed in his own house, borrowed a set from the TV show Monk, used his car in parts of the film, and even used cars from other staff members. It grossed $53.4 million domestically, making back more than three times its budget (roughly 60% of the box office takings of a movie do not return to the financiers but instead pay for distribution costs). Despite its success in relation to its cost, Crash was the least successful film, at the domestic box office, to win Best Picture since The Last Emperor in 1987.

Director Paul Haggis has mentioned work on a sequel to the film, involving the continued story of Anthony — Chris "Ludacris" Bridges' character.

[edit] Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert named Crash the best film of 2005 ^[1]. LA Weekly critic Scott Foundas named it the worst film of the year, touching off a debate between the two critics ^[2].

All Movie Guide link

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles, California during a 36 hour period and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices. Through these characters' interactions, the film attempts to depict and examine racial tension in the United States.

[edit] Cast of characters

Crash features an ensemble cast:

Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) is the white district attorney of Los Angeles. He and his wife Jean are carjacked by Anthony and Peter (both of whom are black); subsequently, he tries to save his political career by reassuring voters that he is racially sensitive (as he is a Democrat and African Americans and Hispanics are his key demographics). His character is never depicted as a bigot, which makes his racial stance ambiguous. The use of ambiguity by the filmmakers likely asks whether people who make such actions are racially positive or just discriminatory in pursuit of goals.
Jean (Sandra Bullock) is Rick's white wife, whose racial prejudices escalate after the carjacking. At the end of the film, following an accident in her home, she realizes that the person who is most nice and most helpful to her is Maria, her Hispanic maid, while her snobby friends were too busy with shallow pursuits (such as tanning and getting a massage) to help her out.
Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) is the stereotypical African American inner city car thief. He believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks. At one point in the film he justifies his actions by saying he would never hurt another black person. Yet, after he and Peter mistakenly try to carjack a car driven by a black man, Cameron, and when Cameron attacks Anthony during the carjacking, Anthony's response is to call on Peter to shoot Cameron.
Peter (Larenz Tate) is Anthony's friend and partner in crime. Like Anthony, he is black, but he scoffs at Anthony's paranoia over racism. The only character killed throughout all of the film's near tragedies, Peter is killed by Officer Hanson, who picks him up in the valley hours after their failed carjacking and mistakenly shoots him after assuming he is drawing a gun, when in reality he was reaching into his pocket to show the cop a figure of Saint Christopher.
Graham (Don Cheadle) is Peter's brother, and a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department. He is disconnected from his poor family. He promises his mother that he would find his younger brother, but is preoccupied with a case concerning a racist white cop who shot a possibly corrupt black cop. Flanagan offers him a furthering of his career and a clearing of his brother's record, for leaving out what is controversial evidence. Graham, offended and opposed at first, is convinced with some arguments for affirmative action in a private conversation with Flanagan. In the end he makes a very tough decision to leave out the information, putting a possible innocent man behind bars, although important to note, that the man in question had just barely avoided charges on two previous race-related shootings as well. Ironically, Graham withholds evidence clearing the name of his brother, who is later killed.
Flanagan (William Fichtner) is an aide to Rick who talks Graham into accepting a corrupt deal, by arguing in strong favor of affirmative action. The corrupt deal outlined by Flanagan was that of furthering of his career, and the clearing of his brother's charges. Although the deal is corrupt, Flanagan plays a small but incredibly important role for the discussion of the theme on positive discrimination, and takes a moral highground to justify his actions. In the end he leaves the decision up to Graham by suggesting that "you're the closest to all of this, you tell us what needs to be done!" (paraphrased), to suggest that maybe enough substantive inequality in a systematically equal society, is justification for the actions taken.
Ria (Jennifer Esposito) is a Latina detective, Graham's partner and girlfriend.
Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) is a white police officer who molests Christine, a black woman, during a traffic stop. This causes his partner, Officer Hanson, to believe his partner has racist tendencies. Meanwhile, Ryan is trying to get help for his father, who may possibly have prostate cancer but seems to have been misdiagnosed with a bladder infection. Ryan's racist remarks to a black insurance representative makes her assure him she will not help his father get the treatment he needs. His racial prejudices seem to stem in part from the negative impact that local affirmative action-style policies that favored minority businesses had on his father's business, family, and life. Ryan later relieves the viewers of his racist tendencies when he saves Christine from certain death in a fiery car wreck and is seen working with a newly-assigned, Hispanic-American partner whom he seems to show no signs of prejudice towards.
Cameron (Terrence Howard) is a black television director who becomes distraught after witnessing Officer Ryan molesting his wife and realizing that the very show he produces is propagating racist stereotypes about black people. In an emotional moment, he fights off Anthony and Peter when they try to steal his car, takes away Anthony's gun, and gets himself into a harsh argument with armed white police officers, no longer afraid of losing his Uncle Tom image - or, seemingly, his life. Just when it is very likely that he will be shot to death, Officer Hanson intervenes on his behalf and prevents any outbreak of violence.
Christine (Thandie Newton) is Cameron's wife. She is molested by Officer Ryan after she and Cameron are pulled over. She becomes very angry with her husband because he does not act while she is being molested, and the next day is trapped in an overturned car due to a highway accident. Her life is saved by Officer Ryan, the very man who molested her.
Officer Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) is Officer Ryan's partner who is disgusted by his partner's racism and the city's inaction. After trying to get another partner after seeing Ryan molest Christine, Hansen accepts a solo patrol vehicle. Hansen saves Cameron during his confrontation with the police, yet, in a later incident with a hitchhiker who turns out to be Peter, Hansen shoots Peter when Peter reaches for what Hansen suspected was a weapon, but was actually a miniature figure of Saint Christopher. He dumps the body and burns his car in an attempt to hide evidence. One of the most surprising developments in the film occurs because Officer Hansen, despite his initial integrity and resistance to racist ideas, takes to heart Officer Ryan's last words to him (telling him he too will develop racist instincts with more experience on the force).
Daniel (Michael Peña) is a Mexican-American locksmith who faces discrimination from Jean and others because he looks like a "gangbanger" (has tattoos, shaved head, baggy jeans) to them, when actually, he is a devoted family man. He is seeking a safe environment for his young daughter, who had a bullet go through her window in their previous home. That is why he moved to a safe neighborhood and enrolled her in a private school. He and his daughter are shot at by Farhad but did not get hurt because the cartridges were blanks.
Farhad (Shaun Toub) is a Persian store owner who is afraid for his safety. He is depicted as a man frustrated by the racial harassment he experiences in the United States, as well as deterred by difficulties with speaking English (despite being an American citizen). To protect his store -- the only thing his family has -- he goes to a gun shop and attempts to buy a gun. His hotheaded attitude leads to racist remarks from the gun store owner, who refuses to sell him a gun. His suspicion of others is compounded by his difficulty speaking English. He does not heed Daniel's warning that his shop needed the door repaired and thus suffers a break-in. Blaming Daniel for the invasion and racially-motivated destruction of his store, he confronts him at his house and is about to fire a gun at him. Daniel's daughter Lara rushes to her father's aid; as she believes herself to be wearing a "special" cloak that, her father has told her, was impenetrable and thus will protect them both. Farhad means to shoot at Daniel but accidentally shoots at his daughter. However, unknown to Farhad and Daniel, it is a blank. The fact that the daughter is not hurt is a great relief, also for Farhad, who believes an angel intervened, and he leaves without further attacking Daniel.
Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) is Farhad's daughter, and is more acclimated than her father to the American culture. She also selects the blanks (instead of bullets) to go with her father's new gun from the gun shop in a very calm manner. She is also the doctor at the morgue who escorts Graham and his mother to Peter's body after it is discovered in a field.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Criticisms

Los Angeles film critic Scott Foundas described the film as "the worst movie of the year", while a few have called it one of "the worst Oscar winners of all time". These views have been shared by a many film critics, with the notable exception of Roger Ebert, who has vehemently opposed such claims.^[3] Many critics have claimed that the film is, ironically, highly ignorant and bigoted in its portrayal of its racially diverse set of characters.

As well, the film has been criticized by some commentators who feel the movie is not an accurate reflection of race relations in contemporary Los Angeles, particularly with regards to the film's portrayal of police and racial tension.^[4]

The film has likewise been criticized by liberal commentators who feel that institutionalized forms of white supremacy and white racism are far more destructive than individual prejudices, and feel that the movie is "self-indulgent" for white Americans who "want to feel victimized too".^[5]

In addition, critics have pointed out that unlike every other race depicted in the film, Asians are portrayed in an overwhelmingly negative light with little, if any redeeming qualities. The film has been criticized for actually reinforcing Asian stereotypes and lacking any manner of significant character development of its Asian characters.^[6]

There has been much criticism over Crash winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, as an underdog, over the front-runner Brokeback Mountain. The day after the awards, some journalists wrote articles expressing their dislike over what, in their opinion, was one of the biggest shockers in Oscar history. Brokeback Mountain led the pre-Oscar award season by winning most of the key precursor awards, particularly the Golden Globes as well as earning the leading number of Academy Award nominations (8), and its place on 314 critics top ten lists - more than any other film in 2005. Crash, although critically acclaimed was less so, with Roger Ebert and several other critics calling it "The Best Movie of 2005". In fact, Ebert himself predicted that Crash would win the Oscar for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain on the grounds that it was "a better film."

MSNBC journalist Erik Lundegaard criticized the AMPAS by stating that "The Academy is 78 years old and acting every bit of it, and last night they took another doddering step towards irrelevancy" and "This is the worst best picture winner since The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952."^[7]

LA Weekly writer Nikki Finke wrote "Hollywood showed tonight it isn't the liberal bastion it once was. That's pitiful if you're a progressive, and pleasing if you're a conservative." She also accused the Academy of being homophobic, writing "Turns out Hollywood is as homophobic as Red State country. In touch, not out of touch."^[8]

The fact that Crash was the least financially successful Best Picture winner in nearly 20 years also raised controversy. Another point of criticism is the fact that no Best Picture winner has won fewer than four total Oscars since Rocky in 1976.

[edit] Awards

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2006 Oscars handed out at Kodak Theatre

Crash was nominated for six awards in the 78th Academy Awards (2006), and won three of them, including a surprise win of Best Picture, which Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain was widely predicted to take home. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon) and the other for Best Screenplay (Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco). Other awards include Best Ensemble Cast at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Thandie Newton) at the BAFTA Awards, Best Writer at the Critics' Choice Awards, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Terrence Howard) and Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Although it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004, it did not qualify for the 77th Academy Awards, as it was not released theatrically until 2005.

Crash upset frontrunner Brokeback Mountain, as well as Munich, Capote, and Good Night, And Good Luck to the best motion picture Oscar. Crash collected a total of three Oscars, the most of the night, along with Brokeback Mountain, King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha.

[edit] 78th Academy Awards

Won: Best Motion Picture
Won: Best Original Screenplay
Won: Best Achievement in Film Editing
Nominated: Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon)
Nominated: Best Achievement in Direction (Paul Haggis)
Nominated: Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (In the Deep)

[edit] DVD

The 1 Disc DVD cover of Crash.

Crash two disc Director's Cut DVD

Crash was released on DVD on September 6, 2005 as Widescreen and Fullscreen one-Disc versions, with a handful of bonus features. The Director's Cut of the film was released in a 2 Disc Special Edition DVD on April 4, 2006, with more bonus content than the one-disc set.

[edit] Trivia

Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial picture appears in the police office. Vice President Dick Cheney's portrait also appears later in the same scene.
Crash contains more profanity than any other film nominated for the best picture Oscar over the prior five years with 182 expletives, 99 of which are "fuck," according to a report by Family Media Guide.^[9] The only Best Pictures with more expletives are Platoon and Deer Hunter.
Before Ryan Phillippe signed on, Heath Ledger was in talks for the role of Hanson. Ledger's film Brokeback Mountain would go on to compete as the favorite for the title of Best Picture against Crash. Other first choices include John Cusack as Rick Cabot and Forest Whitaker as Cameron.
Terrence Howard and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges both appear in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow, for which Howard received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In both films, Howard's character physically assaults Bridges' character.
Crash, a self-described passion piece for director Paul Haggis, was inspired by a real life incident where his Porsche was carjacked (mentioned on the DVD commentary track) outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard in 1991. Shortly after his personal incident, the Rodney King Riots and O.J. Simpson Trial brought issues of racial tension to the front page of American media.
A BusinessWeek article on product placement noted that the Lincoln Navigator SUV is featured prominently in the film.^[10]
LAPD Officer Ryan (Matt Dillon) initially spots Cameron (Terrence Howard) driving east on Ventura Boulevard near Laurel Grove Avenue in the Studio City district of Los Angeles. Cameron is pulled over a few blocks east, near the Radford Street entrance of CBS Studio Center, just north of Ventura Boulevard. Later, after the botched robbery by Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Cameron drops Anthony off back at Ventura and Laurel Grove Avenue, where he was first spotted by Ryan.
The California Vehicle Code requires Authorized Emergency Vehicles to have a steady-burning red lamp visible for 1,000 feet to the front of the vehicle. In scene 4, Matt Dillon's character does a car stop on Terence's character. The patrol car has the right kind of California light bar but the light bar is mounted backward with the steady-burning red to the rear. The patrol car in this scene appears in several others with the backward light bar. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

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