HOLLYWOOD HUES
Culture contrast

While the blacks deal with life-and-death situations in Crash, the whites get mad about trivia, writes Ervell E. Menezes

THEY called it colour prejudice in the old days. Then came racial discrimination and colour bar but the genre has always been evolving. There was The Liberation of L.B. Jones and In the Heat of the Night in the late-1960s which voiced the black cause. After the late-1980s, we had the blacks themselves making films like Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood, which touched on the grey areas. Paul Haggis’ Crash goes a step further and tackles a multi-racial problem and which better city to pick on than Los Angeles.

You have Persians who fear Latinos, African-Americans who sneer at Asians and white folks who consider themselves superior to everyone else. It is a kaleidoscopic view of what is euphemistically called the melting pot of cultures. There’s an arrogant, racist patrol cop (Matt Dillon), his idealistic partner (Ryan Philips), a philosophical carjacker (Ludacris), a cynical detective (Don Cheadle) and a black filmmaker — all grist for Haggis’ mill. And what an excellent job this scriptwriter-turned-director does with the characters at his disposal!

Haggis incorporates some stunning sequences in his script, like the racist cop virtually molesting a black woman in the presence of her husband under the guise of frisking her, the Persian illiterate making a hash of murder and the idealistic white cop taking up cudgels for a black. There are others too. These are the strengths of the film, which works on different levels.

Why do blacks not help their lesser fortunate brethren when they are doing well? Is this because they feel superior to them or because of a bonding with the whites? And why are the whites wary, even afraid, of the blacks? The carjacker has his own take on it. But these are questions the film raises. The contrast in cultures also comes across strongly as in Michael Haneke’s Hidden shown at the last IFFI. While the blacks deal with life-and-death situations, the whites (Sandra bullock) get mad about trivia.

As for the title it is one of the characters saying "in LA nobody touches you, you crash into each other because they identify with each other." Each character is hobbled with prejudice, but all have their moments of nobility and it is these grey areas that embellish the narrative.

The net result is an absorbing story weaving in and out of the situations that are as stunning as they are realistic and one is unable to anticipate the many twists and turns in the plot. For his debut film Haggis is quite amazing. He is supported by Matt Dillon and some talented blacks like Don Cheadle of Hotel Rwanda fame and Ludacris. Sandra Bullock and Brendan Frazer are largely ornamental but the film is an absolute humdinger and fully deserved the Best Picture Oscar. Don’t miss it for anything.

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