Crash (2005)

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d0/Crash_ver2.jpg/200px-Crash_ver2.jpg

Movie #5: Crash (2005)
Oscar wins: 3- Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Haggis & Moresco), Best Film Editing
Nominations: Best Director (Haggis), Best Supporting Actor (Dillon), Best Original Song ("In the Deep")
Directed by: Paul Haggis
Written by: Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Larenz Tate, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Esposito, Ryan Philippe, Matt Dillon
Length: 112 minutes
Budget: $6.5 million

From low budget to big cinema and back again, Crash has the smallest budget of the five films I've watched, at (a measly?) six and a half million dollars. And, I must say, it is the first winner that I strongly disagree with.

Crash is a gritty, raw tale of hardship and racism in Los Angeles, that follows the lives of many people: policemen, store owners, Chinese immigrants, African Americans in the business world and those on the streets, Iranians, and everything in between. The film reveals the realities behind ignorance, racism, and the problems they cause, and how lives can intersect and affect one another in remarkable ways.

This is a very good film. Like The Departed, it features a load of stars that just pop-up out of nowhere, and give very strong performances. Oscar winner Sandra Bullock (ha ha) plays an ignorant, lonely woman, Matt Dillon plays a dirty (pun intended) cop, Ryan Philippe plays his kind partner who struggles to get out from under his control, Ludacris and Larenz Tate play car jackers, Bahar Soomekh plays a young Iranian American whose father (Shaun Toub) struggles to cope in America, and the cast list goes on and on. Also, Haggis and Moresco wrote an incredible screenplay to bring all of these characters in and deliver such an emotional and powerful message. So, my problem? Brokeback Mountain was an incredible piece of filmmaking, and was better than Crash on every aspect.

I won't go into the Brokeback Mountain vs. Crash debate, because it's all been said before. No matter how many times I see either film (which is around five for both, right now), I will never change my mind on the fact that Brokeback Mountain was the best film of 2005. Thankfully, Ang Lee at least won Best Director, which he completely deserved for his masterpiece.

The 78th Academy Awards spread its prizes among a lot of films, with the most only winning three. Brokeback Mountain won director, score, and adapted screenplay, while Memoirs of a Geisha walked away with three art awards and King Kong walked away with the sound and special effects awards. Then, of course, Crash won its three awards.

Perhaps surprisingly, Crash does not go at the bottom of my list. I would not have given the Best Picture award to this film or Slumdog Millionaire, but for two different reasons: Slumdog Millionaire I didn't think was a good enough film to earn that crown, while Crash was good enough, but given its year and the fact that it went against Brokeback Mountain, it didn't deserve it.


Rankings:
1. The Departed (2006)
2. No Country for Old Men (2007)
3. The Hurt Locker (2009)
4. Crash (2005)
5. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)