BeachBlonde said:
I have an opinion,if you want it
it was honest and made me look at myself.racism is ugly,but this film seemed to not get the entire point across although it began to.it didn't hit me really until a day or so after seeing it,was at work..my work is full of racism.I think everyone should see Crash.everyone,including me again.
LOL it took some time but....thank you for being the first and only to respond, BeachBlonde..
I
totally wanted people's opinions here, though...
I thought that the movie was
fantastic & truly the greatest movie I've seen all year (though that's not saying too much, as it's only June & there hasn't been a whole lot of films to get all excited about).
"Crash" dealt with issues that we face everyday and made some key points, I think. True, it didn't get into
every single person's story with as much depth as say, a 4-hr movie would have...but I still think it did justice to the audience, nonetheless. It got around to pin-pointing what it was that each individual was dealing with in their own lives, to a certain extent. It expanded upon a sentiment that I have expressed in the past ~that we all (regardless of nationality/creed/gender) deal with similar (if not identical) things, though we may experience it a little differently.
Though there was a bigot, that bigot had a story of his own. We were able to get into the minds of these people, if for only a few moments. Though there is no justification for racism (as I don't feel this movie was intending to suggest that there is ever justification for hatred), there were some "reasons" given as to why racism takes place, sometimes (bitterness, being one of them).
It is amazing how many people you will meet in your life who will swear up-and-down that they are not racist...yet,
yet, they clutch their purse to their body or walk alot faster as soon as they see a Mexican or an African American walking down the street alongside her/him. In the movie, there was an "on-going" joke, of sorts, that almost laughed at how some people view African Americans, yet what were those particular characters acting upon? As opposed to seeing a
contrast as to how young, Black men are typically viewed by society (that of the "gangsta/thug/thief/etc." variety), you see these two young, Black men who are
going along with these generalizations and
proving these generalizations to be true. (I refer you to the stanza in 2Pac's song "Changes" where he almost hopes that Blacks (specifically, men) do better; however, the fact is that many Blacks (again, I would assume he means men here) are still in prison for making money in ways that are questionable (and obviously, illegal). Why, though? Though we can all do better, sometimes we don't because what is expected of us is to "remain the same" and never rise up above any challenging situations we are placed in. The characters from the movie merely validate all the people who insist that young Black men are always out to hurt someone else, merely to get money. Though, I won't ruin some of the courses of action that later take place with those two men...
That kind of goes along with what a friend and I were talking about today, actually. In our case, though, we were talking about children & how positive reinforcement for
good behavior is far better than negatively reinforcing bad behavior. We'd discussed that though it is important to let children know when they are in the wrong, it is so very important to reward their
good behavior, as well....because if all that they grow up learning and believing is how
bad they are and what they are doing
wrong, then they may act on that and
prove those people right ~that they are indeed ingrates and nothing more than that!! Sorry...perhaps that was a huge, unnecessary tangent there.
Anyway, the movie shed light on several core issues, which may have been detrimental to the movie's "plot," if you will. By including varying issues, layering them into the plot, it helped "thicken" the story and added abit more depth than say, a movie that focused
solely on the topic of "Black vs. White" racism would have. It brought to mind how self-absorbed our current culture is. We tend to focus so much on ourselves..our own wants...our own goals, that this self-absorption does indeed distance ourselves from others. We all bleed red, but we tend to only see the skin color on the outside. We want so very much to be accepted by everyone else, yet when it comes time to accept others for who they are, that is different story.
LOL I actually
cried in the movie theatre during the little girl's scene with her father...I haven't cried since the
Passion of the Christ; before that, I think I cried at the
Lion King when Simba's dad died!! There is alot more heart in this movie than one would think. At the end of the movie, I'm just like, "ugggggh.." What a burden that man carried upon his shoulders. That brings to mind that, in love, we must be willing to sacrifice our pride...swallow it, if you will, for the sake of those we love. True love is sacrificial. If one is not willing to sacrifice something such as their pride, they are not deserving of love. Love is not self-seeking; rather, it seeks to serve others.
Unfair treatment, prejudices, love, hatred, remorse, sexual assault, dreams/hopes and isolation were just some of the topics brought up in this movie. Perhaps, it was too much to include all in one sitting. However, I still feel that the movie made its point and is an interesting story to see. I also think we all need a reminder now and again of just how biased we can be from time to time...forgetting that we are all human beings and we all feel the same emotions (love, hope, pain, emptiness, hate) as anyone else.
This wasn't a "feel good" movie, although the outcomes for some of the situations were perhaps "overly-optimistic," if you will. It's poignant because like you'd stated, BeachBlonde, it serves as an opening dialogue and allows others to view themselves and their own thought processes and see that perhaps, we are not so different.
/end rant...
