December 30th, 2009 by admin

Nominated for six Academy Awards, and winner of Best Picture, Crash is more than deserving of the critical acclaim surrounding its release. Probing the deepest recesses of racism, prejudice, and discrimination in modern day America, the film forces viewers to examine their own tendencies to create and foster stereotypes. More importantly, it does so in a way that doesn’t accuse, blame, or pursue a political agenda. In fact, Crash even touches on the shortcomings of political correctness and how some people have allowed outside perceptions to affect personal judgment, often to their own detriment. Written and directed by Paul Haggis, author of the Million Dollar Baby screenplay, Crash is a thoughtful piece of social commentary wrapped in a storyline ripe with conflict and suspense.

Crash follows numerous characters living in and around Los Angeles as they deal with racial perceptions, prejudices, and stereotypes in their daily lives. Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) struggles with her inability to trust her own instincts following a car-jacking which leaves her teetering on the brink of a mental breakdown. Meanwhile, police officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) harasses African-Americans as a result of the prejudices he developed following his father’s bankruptcy years ago. Lucien (Dato Bakhtadze) and his wife Elizabeth (Karina Arroyave) find their own biases and self-perceptions erupting to the surface of their marriage following a traumatic encounter with Officer Ryan. The consequences of Ryan’s hatred have a rippling effect, a theme which is repeated in countless other social exchanges between store owners, locksmiths, detectives, and hockey enthusiasts. In short, Crash sets out to jar its audience into recognition of the enormous consequences of racial prejudice, no matter how “minor” we may believe those attitudes may be.
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December 8th, 2009 by admin

Nominated for six Academy Awards, and winner of Best Picture, Crash is more than deserving of the critical acclaim surrounding its release. Probing the deepest recesses of racism, prejudice, and discrimination in modern day America, the film forces viewers to examine their own tendencies to create and foster stereotypes. More importantly, it does so in a way that doesn’t accuse, blame, or pursue a political agenda. In fact, Crash even touches on the shortcomings of political correctness and how some people have allowed outside perceptions to affect personal judgment, often to their own detriment. Written and directed by Paul Haggis, author of the Million Dollar Baby screenplay, Crash is a thoughtful piece of social commentary wrapped in a storyline ripe with conflict and suspense.

Crash follows numerous characters living in and around Los Angeles as they deal with racial perceptions, prejudices, and stereotypes in their daily lives. Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) struggles with her inability to trust her own instincts following a car-jacking which leaves her teetering on the brink of a mental breakdown. Meanwhile, police officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) harasses African-Americans as a result of the prejudices he developed following his father’s bankruptcy years ago. Lucien (Dato Bakhtadze) and his wife Elizabeth (Karina Arroyave) find their own biases and self-perceptions erupting to the surface of their marriage following a traumatic encounter with Officer Ryan. The consequences of Ryan’s hatred have a rippling effect, a theme which is repeated in countless other social exchanges between store owners, locksmiths, detectives, and hockey enthusiasts. In short, Crash sets out to jar its audience into recognition of the enormous consequences of racial prejudice, no matter how “minor” we may believe those attitudes may be.
Read the rest of this entry »