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Crash
Directed by: Paul Haggis
Written by: Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco
Starring: Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Chris ‘Ludacris' Bridges, Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Michael Pena, Shaun Toub, William Fichtner, Jennifer Esposito, Keith David, Tony Danza.
Country: USA
 
Three and a half Xmas wreaths
The American Nightmare.
Don't go to Los Angeles. The whites hate the blacks. The blacks hate the whites. The whites hate the whites that hate the blacks. The blacks hate the blacks. The whites hate the Persians. The Persians hate the whites. The Persians hate the blacks. The blacks don't hate the Persians, because they think they're Arabs. (They hate Arabs.) This miffs the Persians since Arabs are lower than pond scum. The whites and blacks hate the Chicanos. The Chicanos hate the blacks, whites and Koreans. The Koreans hate the blacks, whites and the Cambodians. The Cambodians are trying to figure out just whom they hate. Give them time. So, everybody pretty well hates everybody else. Families are torn apart from hate. And if that ain't enough, there's a fair amount of self-loathing going on as well. Maybe it's because it's Xmas. That always brings out the worst in people. But like I said, don't go to Los Angeles.
This is the vision of Crash, a very good film directed and co-written by Paul Haggis, who didn't listen and went from London, Ontariario [sic] to L.A. those many moons ago. And isn't he glad he did. He recently scripted Million Dollar Baby.
Crash uses a now familiar story-telling style in film (e.g., most Robert Altman films, Magnolia, Pulp Fiction, Amores Perros) that follows a retrospective day or two in the lives of several disparate (and desperate) people who crash up against one another leaving their prejudices and vulnerabilities scattered about the screen.
In a skewed sense, this is a ‘relationship' movie. Don Cheadle and Jennifer Esposito, homicide cops, and sleeping together, have a superficial relationship. Her racism is more overt although this would be a surprise to her. His is a racism of ignorance and neglect. Chris ‘Ludacris' Bridges and Larenz Tate are car-jackers. Bridges has a ton of racist rationalizations for his behaviour and Tate is doubtful of their veracity, but goes along for the ride anyway. They mug an up-and-coming D.A. and his wife—Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock—which causes their relationship to implode as he's more interested in how this will play in the media than in how she's feeling. Matt Dillon is an angry, bigoted cop in uniform and Ryan Philippe is his partner, disgusted by his partner's conduct in rousting a black couple. For the black couple—Thandie Newton and Terrence Howard—this is a relationship defining moment that splits them apart, as well. Shaun Toub as a Persian small-shop owner and Michael Pena, as a young, Chicano locksmith get bound up in a strange dance of cultural and linguistic misunderstanding.
This is all in the first ten minutes, mind you, and the antagonists will all meet again in various circumstances. Eventually, they all have to face their hypocrisies, and for those that have them, swallow their principles.
The ensemble movie is a writer's medium and more theatrical than cinematic in practice, which can be a problem. But generally, not here. The writing is first class and the camera-work is dynamic and fluid. The cast is well chosen and the acting exceptional. This a slick, professional job, and that's not meant in pejorative terms. Haggis, in his feature directorial debut, knew what he wanted and he got it in a tight 35-day shoot.
However, some of the elements that make this a good film, keep it from being outstanding. For instance, it's a written rule in screenwriting that ‘there are no coincidences'. Robert McKee is a real bore on this one, but it's actually good advice. An ill-timed coincidence can lose an audience in a film beat. Crash has not one, but several fortuitous happenstances that stretch the believability of the story. Gaddis, of course, knows he breaking the rule. He's a pro and the argument can be made it's acceptable for him to do so. But in places he goes too far. This thematic conceit becomes too cute in certain scenarios and reminds us we're watching an unseen hand at work.
Another distraction is his tendency to slip away from hard-edged dialogue and action and into melodrama complete with a treacley music score. We get what's happening on screen and don't need the extra help.
Since none of the characters are likeable—understandable perhaps, but not likeable—the redemptive ending (which I won't describe) is disappointing for me. I wasn't sure what Haggis was trying to say. He's already made the point that no matter how much his characters see life as black and white, they're fooling themselves. I think his insider Hollywood voice was telling him he better pay homage to the American dream which requires happy endings, or suffer at the box office. Pity.
D.H. Lawrence talked about Americans' fascination with horrific events. In illustration, he used a description of a bullfight, but it applies to watching ‘a car crash', as well. No matter how gruesome an event, Americans feel it's their duty to go and watch. After all, it's ‘Life' and should be experienced. Crash is a series of crashes, but there's hardly the suggestion of how to put on the brakes.
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