Let the Crash backlash begin
Hey y'all,
So the Oscar nominations have been announced and as usual they fall largely into two categories: the predictable and the depressing. And though it's nice to see the Academy finally recognize a song that addresses the issues and concerns of broke-ass pimps (I believe that would be the theme from "Mrs. Henderson Presents") I was deeply irritated by the amount of love shown "Crash".
"Crash" is most assuredly not the best film of 2005 but it is, not at all coincidentally, the film that made audiences feel the best about themselves. It pretends to boldly confront its audience's deepest racial anxieties when all it really does is congratulate its audience on their willingness to address such controversial, politically loaded subjects. And though I don't doubt for a minute that writer-director Paul Haggis has nothing but the noblest of intentions his film is a typical middlebrow con that panders to the very people it pretends to confront. It's one of those risible films that aspires to uplift the human spirit, to make audiences feel like they're better people for having seen it. And people seem to be buying it.
On a more fundamental level "Crash" just doesn't ring true. It's less an honest and persuasive exploration of racial conflicts in America than a crude, melodramatic burlesque of inter-racial warfare pitched to a breathless level of hysteria. Though superficially very accomplished, it requires a suspension of disbelief not often seen outside sci-fi movies. To cite just a brief example there's Terence Howard's instant shift from Bryant Gumbel wimpiness to 2Pac bravado, a transformation not even an actor of Howard's sublime gifts can pull off convincingly.
Good Lord I wish Haggis genuinely had made an honest and uncompromising masterpiece that fearlessly exposes a nation's racism and hypocrisy. God knows we need such a film. But he didn't. Instead he made a shallow, superficial, utterly unconvincing film that allows Hollywood and audiences to feel undeservedly proud of themselves and their capacity for rigorous self-criticism and self-examination at a time when it has less reason to do so than ever
But obviously alot of people responded really powerfully and positively to "Crash". What did you guys think of it? What do you feel haters like me are missing in our interpretation of the film?
Nathan