The film ‘Crash’ is symbolic of the perils of a multi-cultural society and the resultant evils of racism attached to it. It is a very strong film, depicting a series of events of the entwined lives of diverse individuals including the Whites, the Blacks, the Asians, the Iranians and the Latinos of New York city. The film is a classic prophetic portrayal of the racism between the characters, whether the rich or poor, the cops or villains. The film progresses classically, trying to get a glimpse of the severity of the future of multi-cultural societies of the future world. The film, written and directed by Paul Haggis, is a series of chance accidents occurring in the lives of the individuals of diverse races.
The film is cast in the city of New York and highlights the issues of prejudice while living in such diverse societies. The director uses co-incidence and disaster to merge the lives of the numerous characters, highlighting the fact that prejudices are likely to plague the human mind at some point of time or other. The movie attempts to scrutinize these racist feelings and the likely consequences resulting from them. It highlights the stark reality of the result of prejudices which very often prevents humans from seeing the real nature of their fellow humans. For instance, in the incidents between the racist cop and Newton, the cop manhandles her during routine traffic stop.
Later in the film, when the cop tries to rescue her from a traffic accident, she resists his approach, prejudiced by the earlier incident that he may be trying to physically assault her again. This is a classic example of how the prejudiced assumptions of people can prevent them from visioning the true person. In another incident, Sandra Bullock is portrayed voicing racist anti-Hispanic comments in the company of Pena’s locksmith. In an ironic scene, later in the film, she falls down the stairs with no one but her Hispanic maid to help her.
Thus, the movie is an effective portrayal of the racial prejudices and pre-conceived notions deeply embedded in us, which re-surface time and again. By way of the ironical turn of events, the movie aims to bring forth the racial fears in humans, and efficiently signals to the casting away of those fears, so that humans are accepted in the true light, not as stereotypes of Latinos, Asians, Hispanics, Blacks or Whites. The movie conveys a silent message that people must be viewed and believed to be what they are, rather than be shadowed by rigid notions of the human mind on the basis of race and ethnicity.
By way of the cast and the events, the movie is illustrative of the strengths and weakness of the people as a whole, irrespective of the race or region they belong to. The racist cop also functions as a caring and devoted son while an honest detective is capable of concealing his brother’s crimes, depicting the characters with equal measures of strengths and weaknesses.
Thus the film is reprehensive of a multi-cultural society which encompasses diverse races co-existing together, yet when a demanding situation arises, the innermost feelings of racism and prejudice dominate the mind. The film reflects the sad tale of the modern society where racism is no longer openly accepted, yet, is harbored in the minds and hearts of the people.
In spite of living together, the film depicts the failure of human kind in abandoning the racist feelings for fellow humans, which very often leads to misjudgments and failure to see the actual truth. The film effectively exposes the doubts in the minds of people when dealing with people of different cultures, races, societies and religions, in the face of a disaster.