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It's not like I've ever been that crazy about any film that received Best Picture at the Oscars, or even that disgusted for that matter. But when I heard that Crash won for Best Picture while I was driving home last night, I could've punched someone had they been sitting next to me.

I know that this is the movie that everyone loves, but I had issues with the film on so many levels. But before I unleash on the film. I will share the few positive attributes this film had. I will admit that there were some good performances throughout the film, the strongest being Terence Howard's. I felt that his character was the most complex. He was dealing with issues that I actually found engaging, such as witnessing a racist cop demean him by groping his wife, or having someone (Tony Danza, of all people) question whether or not someone would be convinced that a young Black person could speak articulate English. The moment where he snaps on a bunch of cops with loaded guns (after riding around with Ludacris, who tried to carjack him) pointing at him could've easily been one of many outrageously awkward moments throughout the film, but the fact that it was one of the few compelling moments is a testament to how powerful of an actor Howard is.

Actually, the performances in general were the only good thing this film had going for it. But things were going downhill from the start. First off, the score was one of the worst I've ever heard. It tried so hard to evoke an emotional response that I just didn't buy it, and it set the tone for the rest of the film. The screenplay was cluttered with forced dialogue and too many unconvincing scenes. For instance, one of the opening scenes where the Iranian shopkeeper has a confrontation with a gun dealer, who retorts with this onslaught about "flying planes into the towers" (or something like that), come on, who really talks like that? And it's unfortunate that this character was in the most annoying scenes in the movie. I was done with the film after the scene where he goes to the locksmith's house and threatens to shoot him. The way they had his daughter appear as if she got shot was so horrifically overdramatized. Why couldn't they just let it be known then and there that the guy had blanks in his gun all along. When that was revealed in the film, boy was I pissed.

Also, I just wasn't won over by the film's ham-fisted execution of coincidence and redemption throughout. The scenes with Matt Dillon having to save Thandie Newton from a burning car and when Ryan Phillipe shoots Larenz Tate, what am I supposed to get from this? That Matt Dillon doesn't hate Black people anymore because he saved the life of a woman he groped a night or two before? That Ryan Phillipe is an unconscious racist because he shot a Black dude who was hitchiking? If he was that paranoid, why pick him up in the first place? The film was riddled with these unconvincing moments, yet it won Best Screenplay. This is even more outrageous, considering there were some worthy contenders (Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Match Point, and The Squid and the Whale). UGGGHHH!!!

I can go on and on about the issues I had with Crash (if you would like me to elaborate further, please hit me up), but the major problem I had with it that on all accounts (the score, the screenplay, and in some cases, the performances), it tries so hard to reach people emotionally that it just falls flat (another prime example of this, Sandra Bullock's character tumbling down the stairs after saying to someone on the phone, "I'm angry all the time and I don't know why."). It gives the impression that it has no faith in itself. Also, it's not that the film needed a nice, tidy conclusion, but what's there to take away from it? That everyone's prejudiced? Did I need to spend 100 minutes of my life for a film to help me come to that realization?

Some people may find my response to the film harsh, but I guess it's because I take a more complex, intense look at racism and bigotry than some people. For some time now, I've moved past the point that racism and other issues (sexism, homophobia, or any other form of discrimination) can be solved on a social or emotional level. I just think it's too convenient to approach things that way. I personally feel that issues such as these need to be dealt with on a structural level, politically and economically. If such institutions as these are made more inclusive in terms of race, gender and class, that's the most effective way to change society, albeit the most difficult (I haven't forgotten that we do live in America). Although it did attempt to address racism in that sense through Don Cheadle's character, the film falls flat to me because it relies so heavily on the social and the emotional. And I have no problems with films being made for the sake of prompting dialogue (hey, Spike Lee's built a career on doing this), but in this case, it's a conversation that I find destined to go nowhere.

Crash also received a nomination for best song, but lost to "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle and Flow (Whoever thought that the group responsible for popularizing codeine syrup would win an Oscar for best song? Pretty soon they'll give it to a sitcom star that moonlights as an R&B singer for playing a legendary blind soul...oh, never mind). If you saw the performance of the song "In the Deep," that alone epitomized everything that I hated about the film. Unbelievable.

BROTHER_DONTE
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