The following is a courtesy of IMDb:
Film synopsis:
Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more.
Directed, written, and screenplay by Paul Haggis
Produced by Don Cheadle
Cast (in credits order)
Karina Arroyave .... Elizabeth
Dato Bakhtadze .... Lucien
Sandra Bullock .... Jean
Don Cheadle .... Graham
Art Chudabala .... Ken Ho
Sean Cory .... Motorcycle Cop
Tony Danza .... Fred
Keith David .... Lt. Dixon
Loretta Devine .... Shaniqua
Matt Dillon .... Officer Ryan
Jennifer Esposito .... Ria
Ime Etuk .... Georgie (as Ime N. Etuk)
Eddie J. Fernandez .... Officer Gomez (as Eddie Fernandez)
William Fichtner .... Flanagan
Howard Fong .... Store Owner
Brendan Fraser .... Rick
Billy Gallo .... Officer Hill
Ken Garito .... Bruce
Nona Gaye .... Karen
Octavio Gómez .... Hispanic Passenger
James Haggis .... Lara's Friend
Terrence Howard .... Cameron
Sylva Kelegian .... Nurse Hodges
Daniel Dae Kim .... Park
Bruce Kirby .... Pop Ryan
Ludacris .... Anthony (as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges)
Jayden Lund .... Security Guard
Jack McGee .... Gun Store Owner
Amanda Moresco .... First Assistant Director
Thandie Newton .... Christine
Martin Norseman .... Conklin
Joe Ordaz .... Hispanic Driver
Greg Joung Paik .... Choi
Michael Pena .... Daniel (as Michael Peña)
Yomi Perry .... Maria
Ryan Phillippe .... Officer Hanson
Alexis Rhee .... Kim Lee
Ashlyn Sanchez .... Lara
Molly Schaffer .... Woman at Locksmith's
Paul E. Short .... Officer Stone
Marina Sirtis .... Shereen
Bahar Soomekh .... Dorri
Allan Steele .... Paramedic
Kate Super .... Receptionist
Larenz Tate .... Peter
Glenn Taranto .... Country DJ (voice)
Beverly Todd .... Graham's Mother
Shaun Toub .... Farhad
Kathleen York .... Officer Johnson
Nicholas George Stark .... Jamal (unaccredited)
The following is my analysis and comment.
Lately, I had the urge to see the movie "Crash" after it was mentioned on a radio station that I've preset on my car's radio. The radio announcer mentioned only the title and briefly some other information about that movie like who was in it and that it was nominated for best picture in the Oscars'. Based on the brief information I received, I felt I should see this movie. After finally seeing the movie, I thought of myself living in a foreign country as an Asian. For as long as I could remember, I've encountered a few racist comments since the day I stepped onto Canadian soil. There is one incident that I could remember vividly. When I was in Junior High, in the morning I attended English as a Second Language (a.k.a. E.S.L.) and in the afternoon attended the regular subjects with my grade 8 homeroom class. In one afternoon class, I was sitting behind a tall Caucasian classmate. I couldn't remember which subject it was and I couldn't remember what I asked. He turned around asked what I was doing there and told me to go back to ESL. I didn't know how to respond to that comment.
This film was like a mirror of what we experience everyday. In the scene of the two black car thieves who are walking down the street talking to each other about being treated differently because of skin colour, provoked my thoughts when the movie was playing. Thoughts in my mind ran around asking if I had ever experience this. Then the scene continued with a white couple walking in the opposite direction. The lady held her husband's arm tightly just prior to crossing the two black pedestrians. I was thinking that this is exactly what I would see if I was walking in the city streets. The connection was made immediately. Unfortunately, this connection was a little late. Two scenes have passed already: the crash accident and the Father and daughter purchasing a gun. Those didn't connect with me. I understand that they were essential to build the story and as it progresses, this gun purchasing interwove with the store owner being afraid of robbery at his store. It was for personal protection. It turned out that it wasn’t useful, but did however turn things around where a young Hispanic girl believed to have saved her father who was a locksmith. This locksmith was changing the locks in a house, had to endure racist comments from this white woman who along with her husband got their high end SUV stolen at gun point. This segment struck me and I felt sympathetic towards the locksmith. I kept on thinking why this white lady (and probably representing many more) is such a stereotypical bigot. I must credit the actress for portraying this quite nicely.
Racism was raised to another level where the police are notified to be on a lookout for a stolen SUV. Two police officers, one of which has a father who’s suffering from some kind of penile disease (my apologies, I didn’t hear what the actual problem was), was driving and followed in pursuit of a SUV that bore the same features including body colour of the stolen one with a different licence plate. A black woman came up from a crouching position in the front seat and looked towards the back window and showed her smiling gesture. The police officer pulled them over and performed a thorough body search on the black lady. So, a black couple, in which the lady had a few drinks, in an expensive SUV, is pulled over and being thoroughly body searched for possession of weapons. This racial profiling displayed gave me the chills and my heart pounded as if I was in that situation. This controversial incident happens in real life and worse situations have been reported. Then again, if it wasn’t for the media, would the public have any knowledge of this? This black successful Hollywood director kept silent about this and went home quarrelling with his wife about this incident. So, does one keep their silence when one is being mocked and humiliated? Suppressing one’s ethnic background brings one’s feelings down suffering lanes. Only those suffering would know and remains a solo experience. This exterior scene took place at night. There wasn’t anyone around looking other than cars passing by. There was no indication that those cars stopped to see what’s going on. Maybe that’s also reality where we’re supposedly too busy to find out what’s going on or are we afraid to find out what’s occurring around? We rather sit at home and watch this on the news.
The sex scene illustrated the need for racism to be destroyed. The detective told his mother that he’s “having sex with a white one.” Put down the perversion and think beyond it. Look beyond the intimacy. There’s a need for the destruction of the wall of bigotry and stereotype. In this case, black people should be able to mingle freely with white people. Any other ethnic groups should be treated equally with respect and be able to freely intermingle. I consider that this scene is strategically placed as the climax of the film. Everything from this moment on started to wine down or maybe be resolved temporarily. At least it seems that way. The pampered wife started to realize she needs to reconcile with her maid. The Persian immigrant began to see life differently on foreign soil. Both the car thief and the successful director began to accept the fact that they’re and remain to be black in the eyes of another person and in this case, the Caucasian. The Detective continues to strive and carry out his responsibilities responsibly.
The scene of the police officer rescuing the woman he body searched presented the idea that it is possible for racism to be declared obsolete. I see the scene where the illegal immigrants are being released from the rear of the truck as being a new beginning. As for the final scene where snow falls, what does that symbolize? Does it mean that we’re in a loop where we’ll never be able to escape? Is it a sign of another fierce winter ahead and thus another batch of racial discrimination will derive?
