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‘Crash’ and burn
Until a couple of months ago, or rather till before March 5, Crash was still a relatively unheard of movie. When I recommended ti to a friend as a weekend watch in February, I got the reply: “Crash? What is that? I haven’t heard of it. And anyway, if it’s about racism and such like, I am not really in the mood for a boring film which is a homily on the obvious. Who needs that on a weekend?” In fact, critics had actually written off the film at the start of the awards season.
But when Crash’s producers won the Oscar for best film — the biggest upset of the night as Brokeback Mountain had been the frontrunner throughout the campaign — DVD sales of the movie quadrupled in the weeks that followed. And now, US and UK distributors are scrambling to put Crash back into cinemas to capitalise on its success.
Originally released in May 2005, Crash deals with racial tensions in Los Angeles where the conflict between whites and the city’s black population still exists, rearing its ugly head every now and then. Described as a multi-layered tale, it features a string of star performers including Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle.
The statement ‘Crash’ makes is that even now people are judged on the colour of their skin and their ethnic roots. As to why the issue hits a raw nerve with people in our part of the world, well, with ethnic/religious discrimination soaring after 9/11, the issue has become a living nightmare for a lot of US citizens all over again
The originality of Crash — which also took home the Oscar for original screenplay and editing — lies in its storytelling style. It comprises a series of events which may appear disjointed but which actually connect together to make a very potent statement of racial discrimination and prejudices.
Although American citizens include nationals from all over the world with the African Americans being one of its largest population, bigotry of varying degrees still remains a part of the social fabric in America despite continuous struggle for civil rights and equal status that started over two hundred years ago with Abraham Lincoln and the greatest civil war of the last century.
And that is the statement the movie makes. That even now, people are judged on the colour of their skin and their ethnic roots. As to why the issue hits a raw nerve with people in our part of the world, well, with ethnic/religious discrimination soaring after 9/11, the issue has become a living nightmare for a lot of US citizens all over again.
However, the key factor for Crash’s success is also the element of humanity that pervades through the movie despite its hard-hitting theme and some really traumatizing scenes. And somehow, while exposing the despicable side of racism, the movie bows out on an uplifting note.
The characters include a white racist policeman (Matt Dillon) who hates all blacks because in his opinion they have exploited the anti-racism chant to get places; then as an anti-thesis, there is the district attorney and rising politician (Fraser) who wants to cash in on the ‘pro-black’ rhetoric to win votes for his senator’s seat and if it means promoting an Arab American officer out of turn simply to get the minority vote, then so be it. His wife (Sandra Bullock) who feels threatened by every ‘coloured’ individual thinks her husband is sacrificing their security by ‘sheltering’ the black underdogs.
On the other hand, the successful black movie director (Terrence Howard), who has mostly had it easy through an affluent background and good education and who has never seen the hardships normally witnessed in the black slums, has his own demons to fight because his is a struggle of disowning all lowly born blacks and escaping the ‘nigger’ stigma. Another black officer (Don Cheadle) is also fighting to be accepted as an honest and upright policeman for whom criminals are all the same — black or white — but neither the attorney general’s office nor his own mother (both for opposite reasons) will allow him that simple right.
While the stories are taking place simultaneously, the picture as a whole sends out its potent message all too clearly. That while America comprises people from different cultures, the average American in one way or the other is battling the cultural odds. There is no such thing as absolute acceptance of the other’s background. And while innate humane tendencies do bring out the good faith for fellow beings, it is more often the fears which dominate actions in an atmosphere of suspicion and discontent.
And perhaps since the prevailing atmosphere of racial extremism and discrimination in the US is so very ripe at this point, the movie caught the Oscar judges’ mood more favourably than the cowboy romance which had been described by bookmakers as the, “hottest favourite ever to win best picture.” In fact, the Oscars this year made quite a ‘social’ statement by highlighting particularly the movies with a message. With other contenders for the best movie/director category including flicks with serious themes like, Goodnight and Good Luck and Munich besides Crash, the tone set by the Academy of Motion Pictures endorses the public sentiment, that celluloid cannot remain removed from the real world. And now stars and audiences have both opted for serious social themes, which many say is reflecting a new maturity in Hollywood.
Reflecting the recent trends in media, Goodnight and Good luck raises debate on the state of television news as it sets out to expose the notorious US senator of the 1950s, Joseph McCarthy and his communist witch hunts. And Munich re-visits the Palestine-Israel conflict through a fictional retelling of the 1972 Olympics saga in Munich, when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinians and the subsequent Israeli patriot’s plot to lead an undercover mission to kill 11 Palestinians.
Nominated in supporting categories, Syriana was yet another take on recent politics as it delved into the dirty US games of geo-politics in the oil-rich Middle Eastern region and the ensuing unrest of natives and Pakistani expatriates in these Gulf states.
Besides the focus on ‘reality’ themes, something else did go right with Crash to earn its director/ writer/producer, Paul Haggis two Oscars. Rumour has it that the Academy’s conservative attitude was the reason Brokeback Mountain was overlooked for the best picture award. Despite ‘liberalism’ and ‘acceptance’ being the modern-day buzzword, old world norms are still valued by traditionalists who have not taken homosexuality in their stride. And a large segment of society from here to the US are actually quite pleased that Brokeback Mountain was not declared a definite winner. In fact, the Best Actress award, for which Felicity Huffman in Transamerica was a strong candidate because of her stellar performance as a transvestite playing reversal roles, was also given to the ‘fluff’ actress Reese Witherspoon for her ‘cleaner’ role as country singer June Carter.
Though it may be quite difficult for social ‘extremists’ to accept such ‘discrimination’, it is heartening for the marginalized conservatives to know that values still exist in some form even in the West.
And while debate about the Academy’s conservatism goes on, labels HMV and Virgin have reported a major boost in sales of Crash since it was named best film. It sold 17,500 copies of its DVD on Amazon’s US site the day after the Oscars. The film is available on DVD in Pakistan as well.
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