CRASH by Paul Haggis
February 3rd, 2006 by Andre Soares
Crash (2005) 
Director: Paul Haggis. Screenplay: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate, Michael Peña, Shaun Toub
CITY OF PSYCHOS
Screenwriter Paul Haggis’s multiple award-winning directorial début is set in a Los Angeles that is part Quentin Tarantino, part Paul Thomas Anderson, part Spike Lee, and part Bret Easton Ellis; it is also a surreal place that has precious little in common with the actual Southern California metropolis.
Crash is all about how the Angeleno boiling — definitely not melting — pot is about to explode at any minute. According to Haggis and co-screenwriter Bobby Moresco, Los Angeles denizens spend all their spare time hating, fearing, misunderstanding, and cheating on one another. And perhaps much of that is true, except that most of that hate, fear, misunderstanding, and cheating have absolutely nothing to do with ethnic or national differences. But not in Haggis and Moresco’s L.A., where everything revolves around skin color and nationality.
Subtlety is a word that is apparently missing from Haggis’ film dictionary. Million Dollar Baby, which he adapted for the screen, is filled with caricatures instead of characters, while Crash is chiefly a parade of ethno-oriented verbal and physical assaults interspersed among different subplots tied together through contrived "coincidences." Thus, we go from the heavily accented Chinese lashing out at white Americans who then lash out at black Americans who lash out at other white Americans who lash out at Iranians who lash out at Mexicans who apparently work so hard they don’t have the energy to lash out at anyone.
Several good performances (particularly Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe as police officers, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges as a race-obsessed thug, and Thandie Newton as the highstrung wife of a television director), Mark Isham’s affecting minimalist score, and generally excellent technical credits help to add depth to Haggis and Moresco’s screenplay, but none of the positive elements found in Crash – even the couple of plot twists that ring true — are enough to lift it out of its inherent simple-mindedness.
At the end of the film, instead of frogs falling from the sky à la Magnolia we get some much-needed snow to cool things down. The melting pot will keep on simmering, but the heavens won’t let it explode into a zillion pieces. Considering all the psychopaths who inhabit Haggis and Moresco’s Los Angeles, that is just too bad.
Notes:
"I’m not crazy about Brokeback Mountain, but as message movies go, it’s On the Waterfront and Norma Rae combined when placed alongside Crash.
"The saddest thing about Crash’s [Academy Award] victory is why anyone would consider this film ‘thought-provoking’ (Richard Roeper), ’stunning’ (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly) or ‘breathtakingly intelligent’ (David Denby, New Yorker) in 2006. Here we are at the dawn of the 21st century, and we still need to be instructed that racism is bad?" Jeffery Westhoff in the Northwest Herald.
…
"The whole Crash thing has been very annoying. I’ve let [Paul] Haggis know that as well. It’s not a legal issue, it’s an ethical issue. And also I think it’s just plain stupid." Canadian director David Cronenberg, remarking on the second use in 8 years of the title Crash for a Canadian film. Via the Toronto Star.
David Cronenberg’s 1996 psychological drama Crash, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter, was greeted by wildly mixed reviews. Even the special award he received at Cannes was contested by some jury members — and by members of the audience, who booed him.
CRASH - Awards and Nominations
EL ABUELO / THE GRANDFATHER: Film Review
LES CHORISTES / THE CHORUS: Film Review
MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004): Film Review
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