(SI reader Coolfrog_20 made a reference to this movie recently)
We borrowed Crash (2004, directed by Paul Haggis) from our local public library and watched it last night.
Made on a lean budget, this fast-paced 2005 Oscar winner (Best Picture) is a nice movie that, at its core, touches upon racial tensions in Los Angeles (a city that was once home to us).
The movie shows people at their bigoted worst (as when a White racist traffic cop stops Christine and her husband and gropes her in front of her husband) and at their humane best (as when the same racist cop risks his life to save Christine from a wrecked car that’s about to explode).
Deploying a powerful arsenal of crisp dialogs, strong acting and a gripping narrative, Crash comes with several interesting interlocking stories.
Besides the Best Picture Oscar, Crash picked up two other Oscars: Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay.
By the way, we disagree with Coolfrog_20 when he/she/it writes:
the police guy who seemed so nice to blacks and all-ready to give evidence against racist partner, killing the black guy in a moment of weakness.
It was not a moment of weakness but anxiety or fear on the part of the cop who thinks the black kid is pulling a gun on him that drives him to shoot the kid.
SearchIndia.com recommends Crash. You should be able to easily get this movie from Netflix or public library (in the U.S.) or from your local DVD rental library (if you live elsewhere).
Watched Crash; Nice Movie added by SearchIndia.com on
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Why dont you update your Incredible America with plan crashes and economic crashes!!!
seeing 2004 movie in the year of 2009 where there is economic recession and you lost your living !!!
CONGRATS for been so lazy and spending your time useless manner!
@SI
First of all, I am no IT. Only ‘he/she’ can be a doctor or a half-doctor (med student) or a drunk half-doctor (me). Infact I would go so far as to say no machines (AIs humanoids and the like) who has any understanding of the social pecking order would ever want to be a med student (doctor, maybe). We are dirt. No, we are worse than dirt. We are the scum that even dirt doesn’t stick with. We stand in the way of the ‘real doctors’,(all of us dress alike you know just so that may be MAY BE the patients wouldn’t mind our incompetence- mistaking it for the real thing) we are a nuisance to the nurses and the patients-poor hapless things mostly- avoid us like sanity avoids commercial Indian cinema.
About the black guy thing, I understood it like this: the white cop gave the black guy a lift when nobody else would give him one. But he has his reservations about the black guy, infact all black guys. He just doesn’t show it out. He just ACTS like he is unbiased (Remember what his racist partner says to him). When the black guy starts to take out the figurine, being black and all, the cop thinks its a gun so he shoots him. It is his moment of weakness cos that is when his true colors are brought out. The point is if it was a white guy he would never shoot him. That cop is typical of many people who seem unbiased and liberal externally-they even act like that sometimes-but inside they are just as worse as the biased ones. Seen a lot of them here… They say casteism is a thing of the past but when NOBODY IS LOOKING you can see their true selves.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Hmmm….hard to say one way or the other unless you are in the head of the white cop at that moment. Remember, he has to act quickly…What if the Black kid had really pulled out a gun instead of the figurine…there was already some tension in the car with the kid laughing multiple times…We would say the cop’s shooting was justified. Again, who knows what really transpired in the White cop’s mind at that very second.
2. More importantly, the movie makes the point that racism is not a simple black-white issue.
More complex than just color because of the other variables like the environment you come from, political factors or historical grievances that impinge on color. The bigot cop’s father is suffering now from urinary/prostate problems and has lost his business yet before the city awarded the contract to the minority community (Blacks), he was doing well and had employed several Blacks…the Black insurance officer is seemingly indifferent to the plight of the white bigot cop’s father….the bigot cop seems to get along well with the Hispanic colleague…the Black detective changes his stance on the shooting because of pressure from the DA’s people (who bring up his younger brother’s criminal file) though he knows the black colleague who died was a coke-head.
Bottomline, race is more than just about color.
3. You write: That cop is typical of many people who seem unbiased and liberal externally-they even act like that sometimes-but inside they are just as worse as the biased ones. Seen a lot of them here… They say casteism is a thing of the past but when NOBODY IS LOOKING you can see their true selves
That’s true about Humans in general.
Remove the veneer of laws and clothes, and they will morph into feral beasts turning the cities into Hobbesian jungles.
When nobody is looking you can’t technically see their true selves. What I meant was they show their true selves.
Hi Aktar, you are funny.. I heard that the things get worse during the internship.. but once you become a full doctor you transform from the ugly duckling to money-minting swans.. just kidding.. I have a lot respect for your profession.. it was probably just my jealousy of not being able to crack the medical entrace exam that made me half-insult you.. that insult was made in jest as you’d have understood.
I also want to add something about race dynamics.. but there is just too much stuff to write.. so I’d rather not start.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: it was probably just my jealousy of not being able to crack the medical entrace exam that made me half-insult you..
Did you try purchasing a medical seat? Not sure what the going rate is.
But with the right specialty (post-MBBS) you would have recouped your investment soon.
oh amusing word play in your nickname.. was “slow” to realize that. was wondering why your name sounded outlandish and why Akthar was spelled Aktar..
my Dad wasn’t rich enough. 🙁
That time it was around 10 lakhs, I think.. I am scared to even estimate the going rate now.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Oh well…if your kids don’t make it into medical schools here, there’s always the Carribean Medical Schools that advertise a lot in the local Indian rags.
@I.M. Legend: “…not being able to crack the medical entrance test…”
Consider yourself blessed… Although sometimes its helluva fun 🙂
One time(pause)at the hospital(pause)this guy came in(pause)with a wound in the tongue(pause)and we gave him a PR(Per rectal) accidently and it was sooo much fun(?).
Anybody remember the band geek Michelle from American Pie? Typically one of her conversations start like “one time(pause) at band camp(pause)…” and each of her sentences end in a way that make you wonder whether she has just asked you something. I start talking like her when somebody asks me about my studies.
@SI
The “rate” varies by state and obviously the reputation of the college. 10-25 lakhs is the norm (for the entire course). And recouping the investment wouldn’t happen soon. 5yrs-MBBS. 2yrs-PG. Then you would have to work for 3-4 years. BTW, PG seats start at 20 lakhs if you are interested.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
A quadruple coronary bypass costs about Rs 3 Lakh in India.
So, with about 15 bypass surgeries (OK, add a few more given that the booty has to be shared with hospital, other doctors, nurses et al), Indian private equity investors a.k.a. medical students recover their money. All future earnings is then gravy.
Who needs Wall Street and their toxic assets like CDOs and sub-prime mortgages when we can get higher return on investment from Indian medical capitalists.
Maybe, Wall Street should start looking to Karnataka, the haven of capitation fee medical colleges.
American Pie is a classic.. when did you watch it? You may not have been of legal age when you watched it.. based on the fact that you are a student now.. and the movie was released 10 years ago.
I don’t think SI has watched it.. so let that scene be a surprise for her/him/them.. if they choose to watch it.
Nadia’s webcam show was one of the rare occasions where silicone titillated me.. and that won’t be available on youtube.. so, SI, you’d have rent the movie or go the Asha route.. for that classic scene. belongs in Hall of Fame.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll watch American Pie next week.
Most likely, RedBox will not have it….too small a selection (compared to Netflix).
@I.M. Legend
I watched it 5 months ago when I was well above the legal age. And they are GREAT (all three of them, the rest direct to DVD ones are ‘timepass’).