Crash

[Slyindie1]

You find your spot, ease back into your seat, and in the first few lines of dialogue your jaw has dropped. The reality and caustic jarring nature of the race relations in this movie are inspiring. Some may be taken aback, others, enraged. Me, I am grateful. This movie shoves into your psychie those thoughts that remain in your head. It makes you listen, maybe even relate, to the narcissistic tewndencies we all share. Self loathing, or race hating, its in all of us. Instead of being disgusted we should be aware. Tjis movie has taken great steps to make us aware. LA, your back drop, a city that people don't immediatley distinguish as racist, is shown for what it is. This movie would of not had its power if New York was our scene. The ensemble cast was terrific, DOn Cheadle stealing the show. Sandra Bullock also adding one of her best character portayals yet. Two thumbs up, good family fun!

[Username]

This was the best movie i've ever seen. The way it deals with the racisms and biggotry is amazing. It made me cry it made me laugh and most of all it made me think. What would I have done in some of those situations.? Would I be scared being the only white woman in south central shopping center? The truth is I don't know. I am not prejudiced at all but the truth of the matter is because of so much media coverage of the bad things in certain areas I possibly might put my purse under my jacket. But in reverse where Sandra Bullock hid her purse because of the 2 black guys in a predominantly white area i know i would not have had that reaction even if they looked like gang members which these 2 did not. They were well dressed good looking african americans and I would not have bat an eye(except maybe cause ludachris is kinda cute) This movie was so well written if it doesnt win every award possible i give up on mankind completely

[AnakinSkywalker]

Saw it last night on DVD and it's just bad. Made by Million Dollar Baby script-writer Paul Haggis, lectures us on a pretencious movie about racial tensions in Los Angeles. It's basically a number of short stories about conflicts between minorites and non-minorities. And yes, racism does exist(just read this script), it's a serious problem, but unfortunatly this movie doesn't help at all, it's just a showcase of schoking racial confronations, containing an important messague, but add surreal and absurd situations with dumbed down characters speaking some of the most surreal dialogue(trust me, if people actually behaved like this in real sitations, we'd be totally screwed) ever seen and it's no wonder people from LA seem offended by this movie and it leads me to beleive Paul Haggis knows nothing about racism. The movie can be divided into two parts: part 1 is a compilation of clichéd storylines that seem to only shock and mislead people rather then being educative or depicting real drama, but many of those scenes are just so badly executed that they feel both akward and hillarious, I found myself laughing at some of the scenes and I start to wonder if this is a racial drama, when it could almost qualify as racial parody, I was laughing in some scenes and a drama that makes people laugh is not a good sign. Then we get to part 2, which kills the whole point of the film, after giving us an account of how racist-plagued LA works, suddenly as if it was some magical act, all the conflicts are resolved as if nothing happened and quite swiftly, which gave me the impression that all the previous scenes where just meant to shock and give a false impression of a racist infested hell-hole. Bottom line is: Paul Haggis knows nothing about racism, what he knows probably picked some impressions on various crime-related movies and TV shows, which are fictional and yet he gives us a 100 minute long lecture about what is racsim in a childish manner. What saves this movie from getting an F is the soundtrack(which often seems innapropriate at certain points) and Matt Dillons character which is the only one who's well-built in this sea of stereotypes. If Crash had been a short film with the Terrance Howard/Matt Dilon/Thandie Newton storyline alone it could have actually been decent, even though this storyline was a little far-fetched. The bullets fired in this movie should have hit the pages of this script.

[rhmcgraw]

Crash The movie crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis, won the 2006 Oscar for best picture, and rightfully so. The movie confronts just about all stereotypes that we face and are exposed to in our melting pot of a nation. With a multi-ethnic cast of characters and a mind-twisting plot of interconnection, this movie makes you question your own fears and prejudices, and provokes you to think about how you can overcome them. Though it is a cliché, the phrase “what goes around, comes around” comes to mind at the conclusion of the film, as some shocking and violent things happen to certain people for reasons exposed earlier in the film. Anyone watching this movie can find a place or a character to instantly connect to, and some people more than one. On a larger scale, thought provoking movies such as these ultimately change the makeup of our country and force us, as an understanding audience, to better our lives and ultimately better the lives of those around us. For example, A Time To Kill , a racially charged movie based on a book by John Grischam, confronts the racist southern atmosphere, and those enabling it to be so, when a black man kills two white boys accused of raping his daughter. All men with daughters are displaced for a moment into the shoes of this father. Racist or not, they are forced, as an audience, to understand his point of view, and, if racist, possibly change their point of view. Movies such as these transcend the immediate American culture making the future a better time, and giving our children a better place to live. Although I feel like many situations and scenarios in the movie are somewhat unrealistic, I do feel the film and its message achieve a certain positive reaction and effect on the general public in terms of illuminating and eliminating stereotypes

[movielover]

Before I saw this movie, I thought, hum, sounds boring, but then I saw it and it was exactly the opposite

[mcannmcann]

The reviewer stated "I simply have such a hard time believing that people still act this way." I have a hard time believing that the reviewer is so insulated as to believe that. I won't quibble with complaints about predictability or coincidence in the film that sparked that comment, and won't try to make a detailed argument that the characters (some of them anyway) are not two dimensional, thinly drawn or caricatures.

But I truly find it hard to believe that people are so naive as to think that our society is not suffused in simpleminded prejudice, ignorance, and the agony of bridging the divide between worlds in which hatred and bigotry dominate lives and worlds in which the goal of a color blind and bigotry-free society is at least nominally the ruling principle. To act as though the dream has been achieved is truly stunning, and criminally blind.