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The one thing this film’s detractors simply cannot abide, or forgive, is the auto wreck rescue scene with Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton. They either refuse to accept the officer’s ability to change bigoted attitudes the way he ostensibly does, or they’re too offended by what they see as the scene’s representation of black dependency on white benevolence. These are fair objections. But the refusal to question their assumption about inability to change is a prejudice all its own. Crash is a film about, more so than anything else, assumptions, and it asks everyone to question two assumptions, about anger and change, with wide-ranging implications for how people get along in the world.
The common assumption about anger says that conflict among people, say racial conflict, triggers fear then anger. But here are some new premises to consider. Bear with me--there is a cinematic point here. There’s a school of thought that says “race” is a fabrication, a social construct, a piece of fiction created by the mind (to, say, rationalize subjugation). If one considers that there are virtually no biological differences among humans, that there’s only one human species, this thinking is correct. It’s also widely accepted in psychology that there is in life for most people a certain inherent anxiety, a persistent low intensity fear that compels us to look around for threats--an inheritance from thousands of years of evolution (an adaptive function), even if different people today experience that anxiety in different ways. It follows that perceived threats in the environment (say, for instance, different skin color) can easily trigger that anxiety, then the closely related emotion anger (“… anger is the subjective experience that accompanies aggressive impulses.” [Averill]), then aggression that may follow. In other words, people have a built-in anxiety that, in a sense, looks around for threats real or perceived. Racial difference turns out to be one of those threats, even if a social construct. The threat intensifies anger (in preparation for aggression). The anger produces conflict, even if the threat was a perceived one. So that racial conflict doesn’t precipitate anxiety and anger, even if it feels that way. But rather anxiety and anger predicate the construction of race and then precipitate racial conflict. It’s a massive corruption of the adaptive functions of these emotions, originally intended to keep us safe but now causing conflict. “Different” may seem to be the problem, but it’s really not. The problem isn’t on the outside, it’s on the inside--anxiety and anger. That’s the Crash. From anger that becomes crippling, the folks in this film are crashing into their own selves, and they’re forced to question their assumption about the origin of their anger … just as the film asks you to question yours. How Socratic!
Crash involves racism, but it isn’t about racism. It’s about anger and change: recognizing the control anger has in our lives (like an addiction) and making a decision to change that, to give it up, to surrender it. All of the characters are dealing with an unbridled anger which they need to let go of before it destroys them. We may have to accept the inherent anxiety. But when the old way of being doesn’t work anymore, when there’s just too much pain, the anger can be changed, even if an emotional crisis is usually needed to do that. The inability for this kind of change is the second assumption the film asks you to question. And the film-makers are making their case that if we question the origin of our anger, we can let go of some of it, allowing people to change both themselves and the way they get along with others.
There’s a spectacular heartbreak to the way these crises are portrayed, especially by Terrence Howard, who is unforgettable. And there’s a real artistry to this film that makes it a both exhilarating and thoughtful rendition of the transformative power of pain. Full of anguish, defiance, courage, humor, and beauty, Crash is a gorgeous, even if at times difficult, parable about change and hope. Twelve years after its release, it's clear its Best Picture Oscar was well deserved. The film may be a bit too much for some. But for others, it’s what cinema is all about! Roger Ebert wrote of this picture, “Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people.” But when art reaches deep into the viewer and touches both feeling and thought, that art can change people in ways that may last a lifetime. What nobler purpose is there of art. Crash is that kind of art. It acknowledges the mystery of life and, in portraying that mystery so elegantly, helps the viewer make peace with it. And wouldn’t we all eventually like to be able to say, in Pat Conroy’s beautiful words (from The Prince of Tides), “It is the mystery of life that sustains me now.”
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| Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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April 4, 2006 "Please retry" | Director's Cut Special Edition | 2 | $1.56 | $1.68 |
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September 6, 2005 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $2.00 | $0.50 |
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Reviews with images
Crash
Well done. Great cast. Individuals from different backgrounds collide in varying scenarios testing bigotry, fear and understanding.
Top reviews from other countries
Blackmale
Best story telling of 2005. Social commentary? Only if you are Republican...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 25, 2010