The movie Crash was released on May 6, 2005. I first saw this movie when I was 18. One of my friends had highly recommended it but couldn’t quite describe it which was very intriguing. This film made a significant impact on my life. Its release was a few short years after the September 11 attacks. The country was still on high alert and racial discrimination was very abundant. This movie tells different peoples stories in Los Angeles over a 24 hour time period. Each of these people are connected and their stories intertwine.

The amount of racism, judgment, and stereotypes shown throughout this film really opened my eyes to what happens out in the real world. I had never seen a type of movie like this before. I remember my first time watching Crash and feeling very confused. It was hard for me to keep up on what was actually going on because there were so many different stories. About thirty minutes into the movie I found the first connection. Sandra Bullock plays a rich white racist woman. After getting her car stolen and a gun pointed in her face her and her husband, the District Attorney of L.A., get their locks changed at her house. The man who is changing the locks is described by her as a “gang member” because he was Mexican and had tattoos and baggy pants. I remember feeling so bad for him because he heard everything she said about him. A few scenes later, the man reappears coming home to his family. He has a five year old daughter who was afraid of a bullet that had gone through her window at their last house. This really touched me when I re-watched the film. I am a now a single mom and my most important job is to make sure that my son feels safe and secure and has food and a roof over his head. That is all this man was doing and the way he was discriminated against just makes me sad and almost sick, mainly because this type of behavior still happens every day around the world.

I would consider this movie to be unconventional. Its story line isn’t very straight forward and only starts to make more sense the more one watches it. I was so impressed with the film I also suggested to many people that they watch it. I watched it again, and again, and again, and every time I watched it I realized a new connection which made me love the movie even more. I think this movie is part mainstream and also unconventional. The reason I think it is mainstream is because of the amount of big movie stars that star in it such as Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Terrance Howard, Brendan Frasier, Ryan Phillippe, and Ludacris.

While re-watching this movie I found myself getting extremely emotional. I hadn’t seen it in many years and some instances that were portrayed in the movie have become major topics lately. One of those issues is allegations and occurrences of racial police officers. This movie touched on that subject and showed many different instances where this occurred. Another touchy subject that the movie touched on was molestation. This reminded me greatly of the “Me Too” movement in which many woman have found their voice recently to stand up to their molesters and rapists. There is a very intense scene in this movie and Thandie Newton’s performance is absolutely award worthy.

The reviews I have read on this film were very shocking. According to The News Republic Magazine, Crash was the most undeserving winner EVER of the Best Picture Academy Award. I was shocked to learn that this movie had a very minimal budget of 6.5 million dollars. Many of the actors deferred their normal pay because they strongly believed in the message it was sending. Other reviews, such as though by Roger Ebert claimed that this was a four out of four star movie. I have to agree with the latter of the two. I would strongly recommend if any person reading this blog has not seen this film take two hours of your time and do so.