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====Anthony====
====Anthony====
Anthony ([[Ludacris|Chris "Ludacris" Bridges]]) is an African-American inner-city car thief who steals vehicles for a bigoted [[chop shop]] owner. He believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks, and at one point in the film he justifies his actions by saying he would never hurt another black person. However, Anthony tells Peter to shoot a black man, Cameron, after they try to carjack his car and he fights back. A disgusted Cameron kicks Anthony out of his car and says "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself." Towards the end of the movie, Anthony steals a van which - unknown to him at the time - was full of trafficked people from [[South East Asia]]. He frequently refers to these immigrants as [[Chinamen]], but when the the owner of the chop shop offers him $500 per head with the intention to sell them off as slaves, he refuses the money and releases all of them out onto the Asian district of LA in the closing scenes of the movie. Anthony gives them all of the money that was in his pocket – $40.
Anthony ([[Ludacris|Chris "Ludacris" Bridges]]) is an African-American inner-city car thief who steals vehicles for a bigoted [[chop shop]] owner. He believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks, and at one point in the film he justifies his actions by saying he would never hurt another black person. However, Anthony tells Peter to shoot a black man, Cameron, after they try to carjack his car and he fights back. A disgusted Cameron kicks Anthony out of his car and says "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself." Towards the end of the movie, Anthony steals a van which - unknown to him at the time - was full of trafficked people from [[South East Asia]]. He frequently refers to these immigrants as [[Chinamen]], but when the the owner of the chop shop offers him $500 per head with the intention to sell them off as slaves, he refuses the money and releases all of them out onto the Asian district of LA in the closing scenes of the movie. Anthony gives them all of the money that was in his pocket – $40.This is the only scene in which Anthony finally smiles.


====Peter Waters====
====Peter Waters====

Revision as of 20:17, 25 January 2008

Crash
File:Crash NTSC DVD.jpg
Directed byPaul Haggis
Written byPaul Haggis
Bobby Moresco
Produced byDon Cheadle
Paul Haggis
Robert Moresco
Cathy Schulman
Bob Yari
StarringMatt Dillon
Ryan Phillippe
Sandra Bullock
Don Cheadle
Jennifer Esposito
William Fichtner
Brendan Fraser
Terrence Howard
Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges
Thandie Newton
Larenz Tate
Michael Peña
Shaun Toub
Bahar Soomekh
CinematographyJ. Michael Muro
Edited byHughes Winborne
Music byMark Isham
Distributed byLions Gate Films
DEJ Productions
Bob Yari Productions
Release dates
Canada:
September 10, 2004 (premiere at TIFF)
United States:
May 6, 2005
Running time
113 Min Theatrical
115 Min Director's Cut DVD
CountryUSA / Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6.5 million
Box office$98,410,061

Crash is an Academy Award-winning drama film directed by Paul Haggis. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2004, and was released internationally in 2005. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A self-described "passion piece" for director Paul Haggis, Crash was inspired by a real life incident in which his Porsche was carjacked outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard in 1991.[1] It won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing of 2005 at the 78th Academy Awards.

Plot

The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles during a 36-hour period and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices. Through these characters' interactions, the film seeks to depict and examine not only racial tension, but also the distance between strangers in general.

Character histories

Crash features an ensemble cast:

Rick Cabot

Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) is the white District Attorney of Los Angeles. He and his wife Jean (Sandra Bullock), are carjacked by Anthony and Peter, both of whom are black. Subsequently the Brentwood resident tries to save his political career by reassuring voters that he is racially sensitive. His character is never depicted as openly bigoted, making his racial stance ambiguous.

Jean Cabot

Jean Cabot (Bullock) is Rick's wife, whose racial prejudices escalate after the carjacking. At the end of the film, following an accident in her home, she realizes that the person who is the kindest and most helpful to her is Maria, her Hispanic maid, while her snobby friends are too busy with shallow pursuits (such as getting a massage) to help her out.

Anthony

Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) is an African-American inner-city car thief who steals vehicles for a bigoted chop shop owner. He believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks, and at one point in the film he justifies his actions by saying he would never hurt another black person. However, Anthony tells Peter to shoot a black man, Cameron, after they try to carjack his car and he fights back. A disgusted Cameron kicks Anthony out of his car and says "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself." Towards the end of the movie, Anthony steals a van which - unknown to him at the time - was full of trafficked people from South East Asia. He frequently refers to these immigrants as Chinamen, but when the the owner of the chop shop offers him $500 per head with the intention to sell them off as slaves, he refuses the money and releases all of them out onto the Asian district of LA in the closing scenes of the movie. Anthony gives them all of the money that was in his pocket – $40.This is the only scene in which Anthony finally smiles.

Peter Waters

Peter Waters (Larenz Tate) is Anthony's friend and partner in crime. He is also Detective Waters' younger brother. Like Anthony, he is black, but he humorously scoffs at Anthony's paranoia over racism. He also likes the Los Angeles Kings hockey team. Peter is shot to death by Officer Hansen, who picks him up in the valley hours after their failed carjacking of Cameron's SUV and mistakenly shoots him after assuming he is drawing a gun. In reality he was reaching into his pocket to show the cop a figure of Saint Christopher, identical to the one Officer Hansen had stuck to his dashboard.

Graham Waters

Graham Waters (Don Cheadle) is an African American detective in the Los Angeles Police Department. He is disconnected from his poor family, which consists of his drug-addicted mother and criminal younger brother. He promises his mother that he will find his younger brother, but he is preoccupied with a case concerning a suspected racist white cop who shot a possibly corrupt black cop. Flanagan (William Fichtner) an assistant district attorney, offers Graham the chance to further his career in exchange for withholding evidence that could possibly have helped the white cop's case. Flanagan also tries to convince Graham that the black community needs to see the black cop as a hero, and not as a drug dealer, as Graham suspects that he may have been. Graham is both offended and opposed, and is ready to storm out, when Flanagan mentions that there is a warrant out for Graham's brother's arrest, and that this is his third felony, which carries a life sentence in the state of California. Graham makes a very difficult personal decision to withhold evidence and possibly corrupt a case in order to have the District Attorney forget about his brother. That brother is eventually revealed to be Peter, the hitchhiker who is killed by Officer Hansen.

Ria

Ria (Jennifer Esposito) is a Latina detective, as well as Graham's partner and girlfriend. When a phone call from Graham's mother interrupts his sexual romp with Ria, Ria becomes upset with Graham for being disrespectful towards his mother and subsequently showing himself to be racially insensitive towards Hispanics.

Officer John Ryan

Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) is a bigoted white police officer who physically molests Christine, a woman with African-American heritage, under the pretense of searching for a weapon after pulling over her vehicle. This causes his partner, Officer Hansen, to believe his partner has racist tendencies. Meanwhile, Ryan is trying to get help for his father, who possibly suffers from prostate cancer but has been diagnosed with a bladder infection, despite the ineffectiveness of treatment. His anger manifests in prejudice, as is evident when he indicates a racist attitude towards his father's doctor's secretary. His racial prejudices seem to stem from the destructive impact that local affirmative action policies had on his father's business. After Officer Hansen requests solo patrol, Ryan is partnered with a Hispanic-American with whom he seems to get along. Ryan later puts his own life on the line to save Christine, the woman he pulled over earlier, from certain death in a fiery car wreck.

Officer Tom Hansen

Officer Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) is Officer Ryan's partner who is disgusted by his partner's racism and the city's inaction. He asks to be reassigned, and when he fails to get another partner, Hansen accepts a solo patrol vehicle. Remembering Cameron from the previous night's incident, Hansen saves Cameron during his confrontation with the police. However, he later picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be Peter. They engage in a racially tense conversation, and when Peter reaches for what Hansen suspects is a weapon, Hansen draws his gun and shoots Peter. Hansen dumps the body and burns his car in an attempt to hide evidence, shocked at his folly.

Lieutenant Dixon

Lieutenant Dixon (Keith David) is Officers Ryan and Hansen's shift Lieutenant. He is African American. When Hansen requests to change partners, Dixon states that doing so because of Officer Ryan's racism will reflect poorly on their unit, and Dixon in particular for commanding him. Furthermore, Dixon explains that all the work he did to get a ranking position in an environment as racist as the LAPD will backfire on him personally if Hansen gives this reason for changing partners. He suggests that Hansen ride in a solo car for reasons of "uncontrollable flatulence" as a means of getting away from Officer Ryan and not making Dixon look bad for supervising Ryan.

Cameron Thayer

Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) is a black television director. He witnesses Officer Ryan molesting his wife and later realizes that the producers of his television show propagate racist stereotypes about black people. In an emotional moment, he fights off Anthony and Peter when they try to steal his car, takes away Anthony's gun, and argues fiercely with armed white police officers. Just when it is very likely that he will be shot to death, Officer Hansen intervenes on his behalf and prevents any outbreak of violence.

Christine Thayer

Christine Thayer (Thandie Newton) is Cameron's wife. She is molested by Officer Ryan after she and Cameron are pulled over. She becomes furious with her husband because he does not act to defend her. The two insult each other over their upbringings – as both Cameron and Christine have grown up in more privileged environments than many other African Americans. The next day she is trapped in an overturned car due to a car accident and, by a twist of fate, Officer Ryan is the man who willingly endangers himself to save her life.

File:Matt dillon5.jpg
Thandie Newton (Christine) and Matt Dillon (Sergeant Ryan) in a dramatic scene of Crash.

Daniel Ruiz

Daniel Ruiz (Michael Peña) is a Mexican-American locksmith who faces discrimination from Jean and others because he looks like a gangbanger to them, when he is actually a devoted family man. After Anthony and Peter steal Jean and Rick's car, Daniel comes over and changes the locks on their home. Daniel seeks a safe environment for his young daughter, Lara, who had a bullet go through her window in their previous home. That is why he moved to a safer neighborhood and enrolled her in a private school. Near the beginning he gives Lara an invisible "cloak" that he says will protect her should someone try to shoot at her. Farhad shoots at Lara and Daniel but they escape unhurt. Lara believes that this is due to the protective powers of the "cloak".

Farhad

Farhad (Shaun Toub) is a Persian store owner who is afraid for his safety. He is depicted as frustrated by the racial harassment he experiences in the United States (despite being an American citizen), as well as deterred by difficulties with speaking English. To protect his store - the only thing his family has - he goes to a gun shop and attempts to buy a gun. The gun store owner quickly becomes frustrated with Farhad's conversation with his daughter in Persian, leading to racist and terrorist remarks (since the owner believes that Persians are Arabs and therefore, 'terrorists'), one of these comments being 'Yo, Osama, plan the jihad on your own time'. The owner refuses to sell Farhad a gun, but finally sells the gun to Farhad's daughter after being cryptic and lecherous about which bullets she needs. Farhad's suspicion of others is compounded by his difficulty understanding English; he does not heed Daniel's warning that his shop door needs replacing, believing Daniel intends to 'cheat' him, and as a result suffers a break-in. Blaming Anett for the invasion and racially-motivated destruction of his store, and angered by the insurance company rejecting his claim on the grounds of negligence, he confronts Daniel at his house, wielding his gun. Farhad fires at Daniel but accidentally shoots his daughter Lara, to the horror of both Daniel and Farhad. Fortunately, the gun was loaded with blanks, which were chosen by Dorri in the beginning of the film. Farhad leaves without further incident, later telling his daughter that Lara is his angel.

Dorri

Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) is Farhad's daughter, and is more acclimated than her father to American culture. She is constantly trying to calm her father down during his emotional temper outbursts. She is also a doctor at the morgue; she escorts Graham and his mother to Peter's body after it is discovered in a field.

Jake Flanagan

Jake Flanagan (William Fichtner) is an aide to Rick who tries to talk Graham into accepting a corrupt deal. He holds a complex viewpoint that is not blatantly racist, yet he makes bigoted remarks in a conversation with Detective Waters. He argues that the black community needs to see a deceased black cop as a hero, even if he was corrupt. It appears that Flanagan is interested in the political aspects of the case as the DA's office will look better in the eyes of the black community for convicting an officer who has a troubled racial history of a crime that he is partially guilty of. When Graham refuses to play, even if offered a promotion in exchange, Flanagan subtly mentions that Graham's brother has had a warrant issued for his arrest, and that perhaps this was a mistake. Flanagan implies that if Graham will do what the District Attorney wants, the case against his brother could be buried. Graham appears to accept the deal.

Lucien

Lucien (Dato Bakhtadze) runs a chop shop in which Anthony and Peter try to sell cars. The two thieves first try to sell him the SUV they stole from the Cabots, but he refuses to accept it because they ran over a Chinese man and he believes the crime will be traced back to him. This suggests that the various other characters who had committed crimes could be caught, although this is never confirmed. He is later shown to have his own racist beliefs when Anthony arrives with a van (belonging to the man that he and Peter ran over) full of Asian illegal immigrants. Lucien tries to buy the immigrants as workers, claiming they can be sold for an easy profit.

Box office

Crash opened in wide release on 6 May 2005, and was a box-office success in the late spring of 2005. The film had a budget of $6.5 million (plus $1 million in financing). Because of the financial constraints, director Haggis filmed in his own house, borrowed a set from the TV show Monk, used his car in parts of the film, and even used cars from other staff members. It grossed $53.4 million domestically, making back more than seven times its budget. Despite its success in relation to its cost, Crash was the least grossing film, at the domestic box office, to win Best Picture since The Last Emperor in 1987.

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews with the review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 135 out of the 180 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 75% and a certification of "fresh".[2] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and described it as, "a movie of intense fascination"[3] listing it as the best film of 2005.

In addition, some critics assert that Asians are portrayed in an overwhelmingly negative light with little, if any, redeeming qualities. The film has been criticized for reinforcing Asian stereotypes and lacking any manner of significant development of its Asian characters.[4] From an alternative perspective, the film has been critiqued for "laying bare the racialised fantasy of the American dream and Hollywood narrative aesthetics" and for depicting the Iranian shopkeeper as a "deranged, paranoid individual who is only redeemed by what he believes is a mystical act of God". [5]

There has however been a lot of criticism towards the blatant use of racial terms in an unrealistic way[citation needed], for instance in the first thirty minutes every single scene contains the word "black" or its synonyms. On top of that, many characters are written so that they keep reminding the audience of their skin color, Total Film magazine have been very austere in their mentioning of this.

Best Picture Oscar

There has been much criticism over Crash winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, as an underdog over front-runner Brokeback Mountain. [citation needed] Brokeback Mountain led the pre-Oscar award season by winning most of the key precursor awards, particularly at the Golden Globes as well as earning the most Academy Award nominations (8), and its place on 314 critics top ten lists - more than any other film in 2005. [citation needed] Crash, although critically acclaimed, was less so, with Roger Ebert and several other critics calling it "The Best Movie of 2005". [citation needed] In fact, Ebert himself predicted that Crash would win the Oscar for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain on the grounds that it was "a better film." [citation needed]. The comedian Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, and Film Threat creator and Attack of the Show! movie correspondent, Chris Gore, also accurately predicted Crash would win the Best Picture Oscar. Brokeback author E. Annie Proulx blamed right-wing influences for the film's failure to win Best Picture.[citation needed]

While the film was highly regarded by critics upon its release in the first half of 2005, there was relatively little awards buzz surrounding Crash leading into the "Awards Season" in the fall of that year.

Awards

Crash was nominated for six awards in the 78th Academy Awards (2005), and won three of them, including a win for Best Picture. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon) and the other for Best Screenplay (Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco).

Other awards include Best Ensemble Cast at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards; Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards 2005; Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Thandie Newton) at the BAFTA Awards; Best Writer at the Critics' Choice Awards; Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role (Terrence Howard) at the Black Movie Awards; Best First Feature and Best Supporting Male (Matt Dillon) at the Independent Spirit Awards; Best Acting Ensemble and Best Writer at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards; and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Terrence Howard) and Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

Award Category Winner/Nominee Won
78th Academy Awards Best Director Paul Haggis No
Best Editing Hughes Winborne Yes
Best Picture
Best Original Song "In the Deep" No
Best Screenplay - Original Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco Yes
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon No
1st Austin Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Paul Haggis Yes
Best Film
59th BAFTA Film Awards Best Cinematography J. Michael Muro No
Best Director Paul Haggis
Best Editing Hughes Winborne
Best Film
Best Sound
Best Screenplay - Original Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco Yes
Best Supporting Actor Don Cheadle No
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon
Best Supporting Actress Thandie Newton Yes
Black Reel Awards Best Actor Don Cheadle No
Best Cast Yes
Best Film
Best Supporting Actor Terrence Howard
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon No
Best Supporting Actress Thandie Newton
11th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards Best Cast Yes
Best Director Paul Haggis No
Best Film
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon
Best Supporting Actor Terrence Howard
Best Writer Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco Yes
Casting Society of America (CSA) Best Film Casting - Drama Sarah Finn & Randi Hiller Yes
18th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Film Yes
Best Screenplay Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco
Best Supporting Actor Terrence Howard No
Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures No
12th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon Yes
58th Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement Paul Haggis No
Empire Awards Best Actor Matt Dillon No
Best Actress Thandie Newton Yes
Best Film No
Scene of the Year
63rd Golden Globe Awards Best Screenplay Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco No
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon
17th Producers Guild of America Awards Motion Picture Producer of the Year Paul Haggis & Cathy Schulman No
12th Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Cast Yes
Best Supporting Actor Don Cheadle No
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon
6th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actor Terrence Howard Yes
4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Cast Yes
Best Film No
Best Screenplay - Original Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco Yes
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon No
Best Supporting Actor Terrence Howard
58th Writers Guild of America Awards Best Screenplay - Original Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco Yes

DVD

Crash was released on DVD on September 6, 2005 as Widescreen and Fullscreen one-Disc versions, with a handful of bonus features that includes a music video by KansasCali for the song "If I..." off of the "Inspired By Soundtrack to Crash". The Director's Cut of the film was released in a 2 Disc Special Edition DVD on April 4, 2006, with more bonus content than the one-disc set which includes the music video for Bird York and her Academy nominated song "In The Deep". The Director's Cut is 2 minutes longer than the theatrical version. The differences are the scene where Daniel is talking with his daughter under her bed is extended, and there is a new scene added with Officer Hanson in the police station locker room.

See also

  • Hyperlink cinema - the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines.

References

  1. ^ Crash DVD Commentary Track. 2005.
  2. ^ rottentomatoes.com, Crash entry, accessed January 8, 2007
  3. ^ rogerebert.com, Crash review, accessed January 8, 2007
  4. ^ http://www.mixedmediawatch.com/2005/05/11/crash-upholds-stereotypes-about-asian-americans/
  5. ^ http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/


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