Roger Ebert has been a proponent of Paul Haggis' Oscar-winning film Crash since it was released. When I saw the film, I remembered Ebert's review. His analysis, in my opinion, was spot on! Consider his closing remarks:
Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect "Crash" to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The movie contains hurt, coldness and cruelty, but is it without hope? Not at all. Stand back and consider. All of these people, superficially so different, share the city and learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn't look like them. They were not racist because, as far as they knew, there was only one race. You may have to look hard to see it, but "Crash" is a film about progress.
He also named it the best film of 2005, stating his reason in this manner:
Much of the world's misery is caused by conflicts of race and religion. Paul Haggis' film, written with Robert Moresco, uses interlocking stories to show we are in the same boat, that prejudice flows freely from one ethnic group to another. His stories are a series of contradictions in which the same people can be sinned against or sinning. There was once a simple morality formula in America in which white society was racist and blacks were victims, but that model is long obsolete. Now many more players have entered the game: Latinos, Asians, Muslims, and those defined by sexual orientation, income, education or appearance.
America is a nation of minority groups, and we get along with each other better than many societies that criticize us.... We are all immigrants here. What is wonderful about "Crash" is that it tells not simple-minded parables, but textured human stories based on paradoxes.
(I just love this: "textured human stories based on paradoxes." )
So I was pleased to see Ebert respond to the flurry of heated articles questioning the legitimacy of or reasoning behind Crash's win. Ebert's article is titled: "The Fury of the Crash-lash." Enjoy.
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