Crush Critical Analysis - Essay Example

? The movie Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, focuses on the different types of discrimination and related issues that occur in everyday life. I will be reviewing this movie in general. Also, I will try to summarize it and analyze at the same time. At the beginning of the movie, the black detective Graham Waters, played by Don Cheadle, explained about the sense of touch—in any real city anybody can touch anyone else who passes by, but in LA, no one touches you. In order to get a feeling of touch, someone needs to crash into someone else. The first scene began with an Asian lady talking to a police officer after she was involved in a car accident. This lady had been in an argument with Ria, who was the other driver involved in the crash. While this was going on, Detective Graham found a dead man lying near the scene of accident. Graham immediately began looking for evidence to trace the criminal. The story then switches to 36 hours before this scene occured. An Iranian man called Farhad and his daughter Dorri were in a gun store looking to purchase a gun. However, the shop owner had difficulty understanding them because they were speaking in Iranian. The shop owner started calling Farhad Osama because of the way he looked. Farhad felt so angry about being discriminated against because of his foreign appearance that he had to step outside. The shop owner then started quarreling with Dorri. However, he finally sold a gun along with ammunition to Farhad’s daughter, and then she left. I think that this is a great example of where someone does not understand what the other person is saying and automatically assumes that they are saying bad things about them. Everyone has their stereotypes and likes to portray someone based solely on their previous experiences. This movie shows in great detail how we can stereotype because of our preconceived thoughts. Two black guys, Anthony and Peter, were walking down the street discussing about the service they received at a restaurant. The remarked how the were looked down upon because they were black and were expected to not give a tip. As they were talking, they saw a white person named Jean, who was wearing her coat. When she was passed by them, Anthony and Peter could sense that she was feeling cold. One of them said to the other that she was feeling cold because she was afraid of them. When the women and her husband got into their car, the two black guys followed them and threatened them with their guns. They told the white couple to leave the car or else they would shoot them dead. The white couple had no choice but to let the two black guys take their car. This is another great example of a stereotype because black people are automatically assumed to be gangsters who go around stealing cars. Anthony and Peter talk about this before they decide to hijack Jean and her husband’s car. What is really stupid on the part of Anthony and Peter is that they recognize their stereotype but choose actions that prove it. Once they got back to their house, Jean was visibly upset. A locksmith, Daniel Ruiz, was changing the locks, but overheard Jean telling Rick to hire another locksmith in the morning because the current one was probably a gang member since he was Mexican. She suspected that Daniel would come back to their home and rob the place. The locksmith could hear all of this because Jean was shouting very loud. After this, Daniel left because he felt insulted. Meanwhile, Rick made plans to use the carjacking story to help him win the next D.A. election. I think that this shows how people use crimes committed against them to gain the sympathy of others. This was all Rick was thinking about and he planned to give an award to a black person so he would not lose the black vote. He thought of someone who he could give an award to, but the person was actually Iraqi. Rick commented that he looked black enough and then started called the guy Saddam Hussein because of the fact that he was Iraqi. I feel that this displays a fear of other cultures. Rick grouped all dark skinned people and termed them as black even though there are many different kinds of skinned people. African-Americans just make up one of these groups and are very different from Iraqis. LAPD Officer John Ryan’s father was having some medical problems. Because of this, Ryan attempted to get his father some help from an insurance company; however, the lady behind the desk didn’t give Ryan everything that he wanted so he asked to talk with woman’s supervisor. After this, he became angry and started racially insulting her because she was black. A little while later, Ryan got into his cop car and began his evening patrol. Ryan and his partner, Tom Hanson, heard a call on the radio about a stolen car. They just happened to see a car that looked the same as the one hijacked earlier, except it had a different number plate. Tom pointed this out to Ryan; however, the driver of the car was black, and Ryan had felt aggrieved from his earlier troubles with dealing with the black woman. After Ryan stopped the black couple driving their car, he asked them for their registration and driving license. The driver of the car gave Ryan what he asked for. Ryan then checked up on them using their information, but didn’t find anything. As this had been going on, the couple had been laughing with each other how silly this all was. The LAPD Officer then asked the driver of the car, director Cameron Thayer, to step out of the car even though he wasn’t intoxicated. Cameron did step out of the car, but his wife Christine became really angry and started yelling at him. Throughout all this, the husband kept on asking his wife to be quiet; however, she didn’t, so Ryan started searching her to see if she had a weapon. Officer Ryan did this by touching Christine’s body in an inappropriate way in front of her husband. However, Cameron didn’t do anything because the officers were in charge and could take Christine for no reason at all. After that, Officer Ryan let the white couple go; however, Christine felt really angry about the whole experience. She said that she would rather be shot than having his pig hands all over her. The two of them then started arguing because she wanted Cameron to come to her aid. He reasoned that they were cops and nothing could be done. The two of them then mocked each other over how “black” they really were. I think that this is a great example of a dilemma between following the laws of the land, in this case letting the police officer do what he likes, or standing up for what is right and not allowing the officer to take satisfaction in molesting your wife. There are strong arguments for both of these choices. However, if it was me, I would have done exactly what Cameron did because the police are in control of the streets and they have full authority. In this case, the police officer gave Cameron a choice to either come down to the police station, or be allowed to go free with a warning. Cameron wisely chose the latter option for fear of his own safety. Daniel, the locksmith, arrived home to see lights on in his daughter’s room. When he opened the door, he could not find her because she was under the bed. She was afraid because she heard guns going off outside. So her father told her a story about when he was only five years. The story was about a fairy that came to his room and gave him an invisible clock. The fairy put the cloak around his neck. Nothing could pass through this cloak and Daniel explained how it was time for him to give it to her because she was already five years old. After this, his daughter felt safe and then went to sleep right away. This part of the movie was nice because most of the movie is really intense. It provided a great contrast that showed a soft side to Daniel. Anthony and Peter were arguing about racism in their car and ran over an Asian guy because they were not concentrating. While the hurt man was lying under the car, Anthony suggested leaving the Asian guy there and just driving away, but Peter reasoned that the man would die if they just left him there. If that happened, then they would be up on murder charges. Peter pleaded with Anthony that they take him to a hospital. This shows the choices that black people are forced to make. If they turn themselves in, then everyone will assume that they are guilty just because they are black. If on the other hand, they just leave him there in the street, the man might die and then the charges would become more serious. Next, Officer Hanson goes to talk to his supervisor about changing his partner because of his partner’s actions the night before. The supervisor dismisses his claims and cites the fact that Hanson has flatulence problems, and that is the reason why he wants to ride in a police car all by himself. Next, Farhad was in his store getting his door lock changed, but Daniel told him that the problem wasn’t with lock; he needed to change the door. However, Farhad did not believe that and started abusing the guy: "yah, so you can send me your friend to replace the door." This was all a misunderstanding because all Daniel wanted to do was help. Farhad then swears and curses Daniel, calling him a cheater. Daniel then leaves without wanting to be Farhad to pay him. Farhad yells out some further abuse as Daniel leaves. This scene shows how people can misunderstand each other based on their own preconceptions. The next day, Farhad came to his store and found that everything inside had been stolen and the rest was made up of broken trash and empty boxes. Farhad tried to get the name of the guy (Daniel) who had fixed the lock because he thought that he was the one responsible for the robbery. However, the agency didn’t give Daniel’s number to Farhad. One morning, Cameron got a visit from his Christine, his wife. She apologized about what she had said to him. She also stated that she was a bit drunk; however, she felt that the LAPD Officer took something from Cameron by touching her. The insurance company refused to cover any of the damages to Farhad’s store because he was told that there was a problem with the door and he did not get it fixed. Farhad was really angry—all he could think about was revenge. He started cleaning the mess and remembered that when the man came last night, he was given a bill. Farhad found it and it had the address of Daniel’s house on it. The problem with assuming that someone did a crime means that it cannot be taken to the police and then things must be taken into our own hands. This may lead to problems if we have guessed wrong about someone based solely on their stereotype. Christine was involved in a car accident and was trapped inside her car, which had overturned. Officer Ryan was the first to get to the scene. When Christine recognized who the officer was, she told him to leave her alone. However, the car was leaking with gasoline. Officer Ryan pointed this out to Christine and he managed to get her to agree to being rescuing. With the help of other bystanders, Ryan managed to get her out and save her life. This was a great scene because it showed that we need to learn to forgive each other and no matter what has happened previously, we all the an opportunity to fix our mistakes and redeem ourselves. Meanwhile, Farhad had arrived at Daniel’s house and was waiting for him to get home. As soon as Daniel arrived, his daughter was looking out for him by the window. When she saw that Farhad was pointing a gun at her dad’s face, she went to protect her dad because he didn’t have the cloak around his neck anymore. The girl was inadvertently shot, but nothing happened to her. She may not have realized it, but she had saved her daddy’s life. Farhad was shocked at all this along with everyone else. Daniel and his daughter headed inside their house while Farhad stayed outside the house and was visibly upset. It suddenly dawned on him that his daughter was an angel. She had helped save him and made him realize what he had done in his life. His daughter was the one that had bought the ammo that was in the gun. As it turned out, the ammo is the gun was blank. This shows us how even when we are mad, little things can make the difference in our lives. When Farhad went to buy the ammo originally, he was sent outside because of an argument with the shop owner. This then left his daughter to purchase the ammo for the gun. Maybe if Farhad had bought the ammo, he would have got real ammunition. This would have hurt a great deal of people, but the choice was taken out of his hands even though he didn’t realize it at the time. Jean, the woman who was hijacked, was angry with her life. She was talking on the phone with her friend of ten years and told her how mad and angry she felt all the time. Nevertheless, she was unhappy that her friend did not give her enough attention. After that, Jean fell down the stairs; however, the only person who bothered to help her was her housemaid, Mariah, who drove Jean to the hospital. Meanwhile, Jean’s refused to talk with her best friend because she realized that her real best friend was Mariah, who was Mexican. Earlier on in the movie, Jean had talked down to Mariah and treated her like a slave just because she was Mexican. But, this act of kindness from Mariah made Jean realize that we should not be so quick to judge somebody without getting to know them properly first. The body of the man who Detective Graham found in the very beginning turned out to be Graham’s own brother. His mother was really sad and angry that her son Graham could not prevent this from happening. She told him that "if you weren’t too busy with your work, you could have saved your brother." She also added, "He came home last night and was my angel because he bought me groceries." In fact, her son Graham was the one who did that. Peter was mistakenly shot by Officer Hanson while he was hitchhiking. Anthony found the stolen car from earlier and decided to take it to a chop shop. He found a number of Thai and Cambodian people locked in the back. The owner of the garage told Anthony that he would buy the immigrants for 500 dollars each. However, Anthony refused and took them all to Chinatown, where he set them free. This shows how people can act outside of their typical stereotypes and show different character that is expected from them. Finally, Cameron and his wife Christine get back together and forget about what happened. They realize that they love each other and nothing will change that. Overall, this movie showed how we have preconceived thoughts about certain individuals based upon our own fears and not from any logical reasoning. One theme that this movie shows is redemption, because at the end Anthony does something that would not be normally expected from someone of his background. Anthony finally realizes that although his race might have a bad reputation, he does not need to feed this perception. Read More