Crash Critic

I have never considered myself a racist. I believe a racist is a person who acts on his prejudice beliefs of others. But after looking at the movie Crash I took the time to look up the word racism. Webster defines the word this way: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities, and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Now I realize that I have always been on the verge of being a racist. Even though I don't believe any race has superiority over other races, I do look at other races and expect particular traits and capacities. The movie Crash is a great movie that forces you to see the prejudices that everyone has.

Produced, directed and written by Canadian Paul Haggis (writer behind Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby) Crash touches on many subjects throughout the movie from racism to tolerance. But the key issue at stake here is communication, or should I say the lack of communication between the different races have created prejudices and assumptions, which ultimately leads to fear. These assumptions are blinding to the point of not seeing the real person in front of you. The movie has it all, from scenes that will raise your hair on your arms, scenes that will make you laugh, scenes that will make you smile, scenes that will make you look away and finally scenes that will make you cry or even shock you. The performances are top notch led by the triumph return of Matt Dillon. One surprising name to remember is Terrence Howard who was mesmerizing in his role.

The A-list actors, in the film, pays off with great acting. All the characters in this film have some kind of problem, weather major or minor, with people not of their ethnicity. Jean (Sandra Bullock) talks down to the Mexican house keeper. Rick (Brendan Fraser), Jeans husband and the D.A. Rick is a political opportunist, and because he gets mugged by black guys he flips a case involving a shooting of a black cop by a white cop as the perfect opportunity to prosecute the white cop even though evidence suggests there's more to it than simply racism. Because of the first scene we think Graham might have