“Crash,” directed by Paul Haggis, is a movie that not only contained tons of racism, but a lot of communication and miscommunication. This movie is different from other movies with racism, because the film is very impartial about the issue. Rather then separating the characters into victims and offenders, victims of racism are often racist themselves in different situations and contexts. Everyone came from a different scenario, but they were all linked together by stories of race, loss, and redemption.
There were many different instances in which there was a miscommunication between two or more people. One instance, was towards the end of the movie. Officer Hansen was diving in his own car down the road, and saw a black man. He picked him up because he needed a ride. They talked for awhile, but Officer Hansen thought the man was making fun of him. He told the man to get out of the car, and the black man wasn’t happy. The man went to show what he was laughing at, so he went into his pocket. The officer thought he was pulling out a gun, so he quickly pulled out his and shot the man to death.
The officer thought just because the man was black, that he was going to pull out a gun in anger and shoot. In reality, all the man was really going to do is show the officer what he was laughing at, which was that he and the officer both had the same statue. The officer felt really guilty and scared, so he left the man behind and took off. Another instance, was when Officer John Ryan needed help for his dad so his dad can get his urinary track infection fixed. The officer spoke to Shaniqua Johnson about getting insurance to cover his dad in case his dad had a problem with his prostate.
Officer John Ryan was very racist towards Shaniqua, saying that there were five other good white doctors that could of done a better job then her. Shaniqua denied the Officer’s request because his racism got in the way of what he really wanted for his dad. The miscommunication was that the officer didn’t know how to express what he really wanted without being racist and angry and this in turn, made him get turned away from getting help for his dad. If the officer calmed down a little in the beginning, or wasn’t as mean to the doctor about her race, the doctor might of considered helping the officer out with what his dad needed.
In conclusion, there were many instances of communication and miscommunication throughout this movie, even though I’ve only listed two of them. The movie seemed to have taken place when it was made, but it’s possible it could have been in the 90’s. This movie was very confusing for me and might have been a little over my head. I didn’t seem to understand the ending, or why certain things happened and didn’t happen. Overall, I still liked the movie, and would recommend it to all most anyone my age or higher, because of the language that was used in the movie. I might re-watch it again in the future.
