crash movie review essay

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"Crash" tells interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism. All are victims of it, and all are guilty it. Sometimes, yes, they rise above it, although it is never that simple. Their negative impulses may be instinctive, their positive impulses may be dangerous, and who knows what the other person is thinking?

The result is a movie of intense fascination; we understand quickly enough who the characters are and what their lives are like, but we have no idea how they will behave, because so much depends on accident. Most movies enact rituals; we know the form and watch for variations. "Crash" is a movie with free will, and anything can happen. Because we care about the characters, the movie is uncanny in its ability to rope us in and get us involved.

"Crash" was directed by Paul Haggis , whose screenplay for " Million Dollar Baby " led to Academy Awards. It connects stories based on coincidence, serendipity, and luck, as the lives of the characters crash against one another other like pinballs. The movie presumes that most people feel prejudice and resentment against members of other groups, and observes the consequences of those feelings.

One thing that happens, again and again, is that peoples' assumptions prevent them from seeing the actual person standing before them. An Iranian ( Shaun Toub ) is thought to be an Arab, although Iranians are Persian. Both the Iranian and the white wife of the district attorney ( Sandra Bullock ) believe a Mexican-American locksmith ( Michael Pena ) is a gang member and a crook, but he is a family man.

A black cop ( Don Cheadle ) is having an affair with his Latina partner ( Jennifer Esposito ), but never gets it straight which country she's from. A cop ( Matt Dillon ) thinks a light-skinned black woman ( Thandie Newton ) is white. When a white producer tells a black TV director ( Terrence Dashon Howard ) that a black character "doesn't sound black enough," it never occurs to him that the director doesn't "sound black," either. For that matter, neither do two young black men ( Larenz Tate and Ludacris), who dress and act like college students, but have a surprise for us.

You see how it goes. Along the way, these people say exactly what they are thinking, without the filters of political correctness. The district attorney's wife is so frightened by a street encounter that she has the locks changed, then assumes the locksmith will be back with his "homies" to attack them. The white cop can't get medical care for his dying father, and accuses a black woman at his HMO with taking advantage of preferential racial treatment. The Iranian can't understand what the locksmith is trying to tell him, freaks out, and buys a gun to protect himself. The gun dealer and the Iranian get into a shouting match.

I make this sound almost like episodic TV, but Haggis writes with such directness and such a good ear for everyday speech that the characters seem real and plausible after only a few words. His cast is uniformly strong; the actors sidestep cliches and make their characters particular.

For me, the strongest performance is by Matt Dillon, as the racist cop in anguish over his father. He makes an unnecessary traffic stop when he thinks he sees the black TV director and his light-skinned wife doing something they really shouldn't be doing at the same time they're driving. True enough, but he wouldn't have stopped a black couple or a white couple. He humiliates the woman with an invasive body search, while her husband is forced to stand by powerless, because the cops have the guns -- Dillon, and also an unseasoned rookie ( Ryan Phillippe ), who hates what he's seeing but has to back up his partner.

That traffic stop shows Dillon's cop as vile and hateful. But later we see him trying to care for his sick father, and we understand why he explodes at the HMO worker (whose race is only an excuse for his anger). He victimizes others by exercising his power, and is impotent when it comes to helping his father. Then the plot turns ironically on itself, and both of the cops find themselves, in very different ways, saving the lives of the very same TV director and his wife. Is this just manipulative storytelling? It didn't feel that way to me, because it serves a deeper purpose than mere irony: Haggis is telling parables, in which the characters learn the lessons they have earned by their behavior.

Other cross-cutting Los Angeles stories come to mind, especially Lawrence Kasdan's more optimistic " Grand Canyon " and Robert Altman's more humanistic " Short Cuts ." But "Crash" finds a way of its own. It shows the way we all leap to conclusions based on race -- yes, all of us, of all races, and however fair-minded we may try to be -- and we pay a price for that. If there is hope in the story, it comes because as the characters crash into one another, they learn things, mostly about themselves. Almost all of them are still alive at the end, and are better people because of what has happened to them. Not happier, not calmer, not even wiser, but better. Then there are those few who kill or get killed; racism has tragedy built in.

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.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Crash (2005)

Rated R for language, sexual content and some violence

112 minutes

Sandra Bullock as Jean

Don Cheadle as Graham

Matt Dillon as Officer Ryan

Jennifer Esposito as Ria

William Fichtner as Flanagan

Brendan Fraser as Rick

Terrence Dashon Howard as Cameron

Ludacris as Anthony

Directed by

• Paul Haggis
• Robert Moresco

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Racial Tensions in the “Crash” Movie Essay (Movie Review)

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Introduction

Communication model, co-culture interactions, and biases in verbal communication, biases shown in nonverbal communication, impression and conclusion, works cited.

Movies about racial tensions and the effects of significant tragic events take up a large portion of cinematography. Their creators send a particular message through films using verbal and silent visual signs. The movie Crash is an example of a media piece with a strong anti-racism message while showing how ingrained it is in every community – even those who face it themselves. It has a diverse cast of characters that hold their own biases against other groups and even members of communities to which they would say they belong. The use of verbal and nonverbal communication in Crash creates the picture of post-9/11 America plagued by mistrust, hatred, and fear, which is intensified by people’s inability to see their own prejudices.

The variety of racial and class distinctions between the characters creates an opportunity for many co-culture interactions and problems during communication. The movie features young and older adults, black, Hispanic, Latino, white, and Middle Eastern characters with low-, middle-, and high-income lifestyles. According to the communication model, the person sending the message encodes it, and the recipient of this message has to decode it to gain its meaning. Each step in this process is influenced by one’s relationship, culture, knowledge, attitude, communication skills, noise, and much more (Jandt 71). As a result, one message can be encoded and decoded in seemingly endless ways.

A simple explanation of the problem can turn into an argument and a perception of a threat. In Crash , characters often start arguing due to their inability to encode and decode messages. For example, Farhad is a Persian-American man with limited English skills. Due to his appearance and speech, most locals perceive him as an Arab foreigner, and they show hostility spurred by the recent September 11 attacks. He is similarly tense and aggressive towards anyone who doubts his American identity. However, his inability to speak English also leads him to misunderstand any negative news as a personal attack. When Daniel Ruiz, a locksmith, tries to explain to Farhad that the man needs to change the door rather than the lock to protect his shop, Farhad is confused, which leads to him suspecting Ruiz of being a scammer. In this case, the unsuccessful process of decoding a message leads to conflict.

However, messages can be specifically coded to show belonging to or distancing from a group. For instance, one can compare the speech of Anthony, Peter, and Cameron. These characters are black, but Anthony and Peter are low-income young men, and Cameron is a famous and rich television director. One can see that Anthony and Peter often use constructions and terms from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), while Cameron does not use AAVE and uses mostly standard English grammar. Here, the correlation between class and culture is posed both as a stereotype imposed on characters and something they continue to uphold as a part of self-identification. When a white colleague of Cameron notes that one of the actors does not speak “black enough,” Cameron initially protests but then gives in as he fears being fired ( Crash ). The internal conflict between enforcing a stereotype and losing his status is based on verbal communication. Similarly, Anthony and Peter may use AAVE unintentionally, but their speech reflects their identification with African-American culture supported by their view of intragroup and intergroup crime.

Apart from language barriers and intentional language use, the film also shows how aspects of nonverbal communication create barriers between people. The most notable examples in the movie come from interactions between characters of different races. In the beginning, as Anthony and Peter walk through a predominantly white neighborhood, they see a visibly affluent white couple, Jean and Rick Cabot. While Jean and Rick walk at a distance from one another, Jean moves close to Rick and holds his hand when coming closer to the young black men. Anthony notes that this behavior is a clear sign of mistrust from the woman, and she feels threatened by their presence without them initiating any conflicts. According to the theory of proxemics, she both moves into the intimate space of her husband to feel protected and removes herself as far as possible from the area where the black men are situated (Jandt 252). It is a sign of fear that Jean later confirms through her dialogue. Here, the woman expresses her biases against African-American people without any words.

The examples discussed above touch only on a small portion of all conflicts covered in Crash . In the movie, people of all races, genders, and economic classes have a variety of biases against one another, and most of them refuse to overcome their open or latent hostility. Crash makes a strong impression as it shows how implicit bias can be as dangerous as apparent hostility and that all people have the capacity to be both hateful and open-minded, depending on their actions and circumstances. The movie also demonstrates that even minor communication differences can affect the outcome of any event. It teaches that, on the one hand, it is crucial to understand one’s own identity in the conversation to encode messages. On the other hand, the culture of recipients cannot be ignored when starting a dialogue, as it shapes the interaction as well. These conclusions can help guide the practice of a future Certified Intercultural Communicator (CIC).

Crash . Directed by Paul Haggis, Lions Gate Films, 2005.

Jandt, Fred. E. An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community . 10 th ed., SAGE Publications, 2020.

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IvyPanda. (2023, January 10). Racial Tensions in the "Crash" Movie. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-tensions-in-the-crash-movie/

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IvyPanda . 2023. "Racial Tensions in the "Crash" Movie." January 10, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-tensions-in-the-crash-movie/.

1. IvyPanda . "Racial Tensions in the "Crash" Movie." January 10, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-tensions-in-the-crash-movie/.

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Movie Review “Crash”

Updated 14 April 2022

Subject Movies

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Category Entertainment

Topic Crash ,  Movie Review

“Crash” is film that was directed by Paul Haggis, and launched in 2005 as a social commentary concerning social and racial pressures in Los Angeles. In the beginning of the film, one of the black characters, Graham Waters, says that he believed that Los Angeles did no longer have any touch sense between people, and that men and women crashed into each other with an goal of wanting to feel something. In essence, a contact is a form of human connection, while the phrase feel is used to mesmerize an emotional sense. In a society, people desire to have associations with one another, be moved and experience a shared human existence. Although there are very many peripheral issues in the society that divide humans, their search for a common human connection persists (Taulbee, 2006). This search for a shared connection between humans in the society provides the movie “Crash”, with various sociological themes that will be explored in this paper, especially the theme of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, class and global inequality, social structure and interactions.Gender and SexualityThe film has shown the manner in which people’s connection with one another can be hindered by gender roles. Especially, “Crash” has examined the traditional role of men of providing and protecting. In a particular scene, Cameron, who is a film director of African American origin is pulled over together with his wife by John Ryan, who is a racist officer of police. Soon the police officer starts checking for weapons and frisks Cameron’s wife in a sexually manner. The wife expected her husband to protect her, but Cameron responds to the officer with no aggression. The wife goes ahead to accuse her husband of permitting the police officer to humiliate her so that the people he worked with would not read about the incident in the papers and realize that he was black. However, it could be argued that Cameron was torn between his role as a protector and as a provider because if he lost his job as a result of the incident, he would not be able to provide for his family, but this strain of role is perceived as precipitated by the encountered discrimination based on race. On the other hand, Cameron is portrayed as angry concerning his wife’s initial hostility towards the officer despite his orders to comply, which according to Cameron was reckless. This same recklessness brought them trouble, and the wife ended up wounding his pride by making him feel insufficient.Race and EthnicityThe conflicts that are portrayed in the film are shown to have been rooted on unfounded conjectures and fears concerning race and ethnicity other than individual’s own. The film has explored many interconnected plots that vividly portray the dilemmas and complexities established by distorted attitudes towards the skin color of people. For example, in the scene of the shopkeeper that is half American and half Iranian, due to his manner of talking and his looks, the neighbors presumed that he was Arab, which is a race that was judged an intolerable. Due to this assumption, when his store was robbed, no neighbor empathized with him and the looters felt no tinge of guilt in their actions. However, the shopkeeper was guilty of ethnocentrism as evidenced in the manner he treated the locksmith. Since the locksmith was a Latino, even though he was very hard working and was an ideal worker, he was suspected to be a member of a gang by the shopkeeper, and fears that he would set up another robbery after repairing the locks. Throughout, the film has portrayed varying appearances of racism and ethnocentrism among the characters and the incorporated plots (Hsu, 2006). Class and Global InequalityThe movie explores the theme of class and global disparity in the contrast of the characters. For instance, the director, who is from African American Origin together with his wife are portrayed to belong in the upper class both in terms of income and education. The director has a good job that he protects and is able to provide for his family’s financial needs. On the other hand, the detective, who is also from African American origin, has worked his way up into a middle class employment, although his mother is an addict of drugs and his brother is involved in unlawful activities. The movie has also shown the District Attorney’s wife that lives in the wealthy neighborhoods, in Brentwood location of Los Angeles, who because of her class cannot have connections with the nanny, who is a struggling Latina due to her class in the society (Taulbee, 2006).Social StructureIn the movie, gender and race are considered as social constructions and not physical qualities. The film depicts the Los Angeles District Attorney fraught to reclaim his public appearance among the voters of black origin by seeking an African American that he could publicly reward. However, although he considered a firefighter that was black who had courageously executed his job, another person says that the firefighter was no black but Iraqi. It is clear that the District Attorney did not know the background of the firefighter as he had no idea that he was Iraqi, but believed him to be African American. According to this scene, it is evident that the racial categories were established and used by people, but the categories failed to comprehensively say much concerning an individual’s true natural heritage and culture. In addition, in another scene of the film, the detective is shown referring to his love partner as Mexican, while she confirms she was not by telling him that her father was from Puerto Rico and her mother from El Salvador.InteractionsIn a society interactions entail manners of actions occurring as people have effects upon one another. “Crash” has depicted various forms of interactions that hinder connections in the Los Angeles society. For example, an innocent woman is humiliated by the police officer, a suffering man is capriciously denied services by the HMO representative, and a man that is outraged purchases a gun to seek revenge against a man that is innocent (Cheadle, Harris, Schulman, Moresco & Haggis, Moresco, 2004). ConclusionThe director of this film had the intention of showing the horrible outcomes of racism by using characters that mirror countless individuals whose assumptions hinder them from seeing the real persons around them. He has ensured that the film portrays the consequences that people in the society endure when they fail to completely consider other people that they inhabit the world with. Paul Haggis has carefully made the audience examine the manner in which people view every walk of life, and shows the outcomes of compromising the basic beliefs of humans as well as the manner in which people in a society live with the outcomes. ReferencesCheadle, D., Harris, M. R., Schulman, C., Moresco, B., & Haggis, P. (Producers); Haggis, P., Moresco, B. (Writer/Director). (2004). Crash. United States: Lionsgate Entertainment.Hsu, H. L. (2006). Racial Privacy, the LA Ensemble Film, and Paul Haggis's" Crash". Film Criticism, 31(1-2), 132-156.Taulbee, S. J. (2006). Film review of the movie Crash. Pastoral Psychology, 55(2), 247-251.

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Crash, Movie Review Example

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The movie “Crash” was produced in 2005 and is a story based upon racial and social tensions in the City of Los Angeles.  The film, in broad terms, examines the nature of the LA populace and how they crash into one another.  Early in the movie a Latino woman is driving a car and someone crashes into the rear of it.  Upon exiting the car she gets out to confront the Asian woman driving the car and a police officer.  At this point they start to exchange racist remarks about one another.  in the confrontation to follow the Latino woman (Ria) reveals her true identity as a detective.  This is the commencement of a journey of violence and action scenes across Los Angeles.  From this point on every conflict in crash seems to either be racially motivated or have racial undertones.  The director of the film seems to go about this line of enquiry with extreme prejudice.

There are numerous memorable moments in the film and perhaps early on when we are introduced to four of the leading characters.  Anthony and Peter, two young black men emerge from a restaurant where Anthony complains about poor service being racially motivated, whereas Peter laughs this off.  As they depart down the street they bump into Rick (local DA) and his wife Jean.  At the site of these two Jean clutches the arm of her husband  and the men interpret this as a racist gesture and decide to carjack them.  Hence they break into his Lincoln car and Peter leaves a St Christopher statue on the dashboard.  Two themes emerge here with Peter being relatively cool about the racism but needing to make a point by leaving the statue on the car dashboard.  Anthony’s resolve is re-enforced by the act of Jean.  Jean demonstrates stereotyping by judging the two black men on appearance and retreating to her husband for protection as opposed to just acknowledging the two men.

Another incident involves two policemen pulling up a black man and his wife in their car. The police order them to exit the car but the black man ( a director) tells them they are close to home. The wife who is a little drunk taunts the policemen.  The result being that one of them frisks her in an act of sexual molestation.  The partner of the policeman ignores this and subsequently they are both released.  The woman is furious that her husband said and did nothing but he points out that any action on his part would have resulted in him being killed.  Another direct reference to racism and the power bestowed to the police authorities and how they are seen to abuse this.  Even a person of social standing, because of his colour, is considered stereotyped in Los Angeles and has to adjust his behavioural patterns to fit the circumstances.

There are some valuable personal lessons that you can take away from the movie.  The concept of stereotyping people e.g. just because they are a certain race or colour means they are subservient and to be regarded in a hateful way. Like the character jean, played by Sandra Bullock in the movie.  The old adage of ‘never judge a book by its cover’.  The question of racial tolerance will become more important as we all have to live in the global village.  We all need to understand and be tolerant of other peoples culture and respective points of view.  Most of this is born out of ignorance and a lack of education, hence LA depicts the more extreme point of view because of the poverty and lower echelons of society that manifest criminal behaviour.  We also learn about the concept of prejudice and bigotry from the movie.  The movie does focus and depict on the more darker side of human behaviour.  There are good positive examples of social integration in the USA and Canada and both countries work hard towards adapting a model of social integration and multiculturalism.  I view this type of movie as rather ‘raw’ and somewhat bias towards the more sensationalist aspect of human behaviour.  The media tends to feed on this type of depiction and whilst it may be somewhat representative of the seedier side of Los Angeles it is not truly reflective of other Cities in the United States.

The movie does serve a purpose in illustrating the futility of violence and how society can degenerate by unacceptable behaviour towards one another.  People should learn to respect one another in terms of their ethnicity, cultural background and their role and place in Society. No matter whether rich or poor we all have a valuable role as human beings in society.  By the act of debasing another human being, like the cop with the frisking of the coloured lady, he is really debasing himself  and abusing the trust bestowed upon the office he represents.

The concept of stereotyping is also highlighted by the Middle Eastern Shopkeeper who feels he has to have a gun to protect his family after the 9/11 attack.  Not everyone who wears a beard and dresses in Arabic dress can be thought of and described as a terrorist.  Again the media has a huge responsibility in what it portrays to the more radical and less educated elements of society.

In general the movie involves many inter twined stories in the general day to day life of people living in the poorer side of Los Angeles life.  It does not make any statement or conclusions but leaves you gasping at the racial intolerance and stereotyping that still takes place within the big Cities contained in our society.  It describes the vulnerability of all people in our society that become victims to this kind of abuse or treatment.  It does not necessarily leave you with a sense of hope but more of a warning to where society may ultimately end up.

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by Paul Haggis

• Crash Summary

The film opens with a commentary by Detective Graham Waters . He and his partner, Ria , have been involved in a car accident with an elderly Asian woman. Ria exits the car and exchanges a series of racially charged insults with the woman. It is revealed that the accident occurred while Waters and Ria were en route to a crime scene. Waters exits the vehicle to investigate the discovery of a “dead kid.”

The film cuts to “yesterday,” as Farhad , a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri are purchasing a weapon at a gun store. Aggravated with Farhad’s indecision, the owner of the gun shop begins insulting Farhad’s race, at one point calling him “Osama.” Farhad becomes irritated with the owner’s insults, and he is ultimately escorted away from the premises. Dorri, left alone with the store owner, insists that she purchase the bullets that come “in the red box.”

Across town, Anthony and Peter , two young black men, discuss the stereotypes they face as African Americans. After noticing the discomfort of Jean Cabot as she passes them on the street, Anthony and Peter carjack Cabot and her husband, who also happens to be the Los Angeles District Attorney. Following their robbery, they call Daniel Ruiz , a Latino locksmith, to change the locks at their house. After seeing Daniel, Jean is insistent that her locks be changed again in the morning—she is worried that Daniel will give a copy of their keys to one of his “gang banger friends.” After hearing this comment, Daniel decides to leave the keys on Jean’s kitchen counter.

Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers, and it is revealed that both shooters are undercover police officers. The dead shooter, a black male, appears to have carried a large amount of cash in his trunk at the time of his death. The surviving shooter, a white male, has previously shot and killed two other black men without legal consequence. In another sequence, LAPD Officer John Ryan calls a health insurance company on behalf of his father. After he fails to receive the answers he desires, Ryan racially insults Shaniqua Johnson , the representative on the other line.

Ryan enters his squad car, and the viewer is introduced to his partner, Officer Tom Hansen . After seeing a vehicle that looks similar to the one that has been carjacked, the two pursue the black Navigator. During their pursuit, they discover that a passenger in the car is performing a sexual act on the driver. Despite discrepancies in the vehicle’s descriptions, Ryan insists that they pull over the Navigator. As they order the couple out of the car, Cameron Thayer , a television director, cooperates, while his wife, Christine, is argumentative. Annoyed with her frustration, Ryan molests Christine during a supposed “pat-down.” The couple is let off with a warning, but Cameron and Christine get into an intense argument about Cameron’s passivity during Christine’s assault.

Arriving home after a long day of work, Daniel finds his five-year-old daughter, Lara, hiding under her bed. After Lara tells Daniel she is afraid of the gunshot she heard outside, Daniel gives her an “invisible impenetrable cloak” to protect her against all danger. The scene cuts to Anthony and Peter, who are arguing in the SUV they have carjacked. Engrossed in their debate, Anthony runs over a Korean man. The victim is severely injured, and after Anthony and Peter take a moment to argue what to do with him, they ultimately decide to drop him in front of a hospital.

Disgusted by Ryan’s behavior the night before, Officer Hansen talks to his boss, Lieutenant Dixon, about switching partners. Dixon, a black officer, is insistent that Ryan not be exposed as a racist—doing so would cost everyone in their division their jobs. In order to separate himself from Ryan, Dixon suggests that Hansen lie and claim to have “uncontrollable flatulence” so that he can ride in a one-man car.

Ryan visits Shaniqua Johnson in-person to beg for a different health plan for his father. Recognizing Ryan from his racist comments over the phone, Johnson orders to have the officer removed from her property. Before he leaves, Ryan insults Shaniqua again, calling her an affirmative action hire. Meanwhile, Daniel repairs a broken lock at Farhad’s shop. Though he fixes the lock, Daniel explains to Farhad that the door frame is broken. Farhad, who does not understand English well, thinks that Daniel has “cheated him.”

The following morning, Farhad finds that his store has been broken into and defaced with graffiti. The insurance company refuses to cover the damages, as they claim that the defective door is a result of Farhad’s negligence. Feeling that Daniel has wronged him, Farhad vows to get revenge.

Detective Waters visits his weak, elderly mother in her run-down home. She begs him to search for his missing brother, and he agrees to help. Later, Waters arrives at an LA courthouse to deliver a verdict regarding the shooting between the two undercover officers. There, his boss instructs him to not reveal the presence of the cash in the black officer’s trunk in order to put forth an image of a non-racist LAPD. Though Waters disagrees with this verdict, he understands that he will be rewarded with a job promotion if he adheres to his superior’s request.

Jean Cabot comes home and sees that her dishes remain in the dishwasher. She becomes aggravated at Maria, her Latina maid. In another part of town, Officer Ryan encounters a grave car accident. As a first responder, he crawls into the overturned vehicle and finds Christine Thayer trapped inside. Once Christine recognizes Ryan, she becomes hysterical and refuses his assistance. However, after calming and reassuring Christine, Ryan rescues her from the vehicle seconds before it explodes into flames.

Anthony and Peter attempt to carjack another vehicle, which happens to belong to Cameron Thayer. After the events of the previous night, Cameron is incredibly frustrated and combative. Against Anthony and Peter’s request, he fails to exit the car. Anthony hops into the car, and Cameron begins driving erratically. A group of police officers, led by Officer Hansen, pursue Thayer and Anthony. The passengers are ordered to exit the vehicle, and Cameron decides to step out alone. He pushes against the LAPD, but Hansen, attempting to redeem himself for the night before, defends Cameron. Thayer is ultimately let off with a warning, and Anthony remains undiscovered.

In an effort to avenge Daniel, Farhad brings his gun to the locksmith’s house. From her home’s front window, Lara watches as the situation between her father and Farhad escalates. Lara decides to jump into her father’s arms so that she can protect him with her invisible cloak. Farhad shoots as Lara enters the scene, and Daniel, his wife, and Farhad all believe that the little girl has been shot dead. However, it is revealed that Dorri’s “red box” of ammunition was actually a box of blanks. Back at his store, Farhad tells Dorri that Lara is his “guardian angel.”

At night, Peter is hitch-hiking in a deserted part of town. He is picked up by Officer Hansen, who is initially friendly to his passenger. After noticing that a Saint Christopher statuette is on Hansen’s dashboard, Peter chuckles. Hansen interprets Peter’s laughter to be directed at him, and Hansen grows increasingly aggravated. Peter reaches into his pocket to reveal that he, too, carries a Saint Christopher statuette. However, Hansen wrongly assumes that Peter is reaching for a gun, and he shoots Peter before the statuette is revealed. Hansen dumps Peter’s body on the side of the road and sets his car on fire, thus destroying all evidence of his crime. The scene circles back to the film’s opening, and Peter is revealed to be Waters’s missing brother.

Following his attempted carjacking, Anthony is taking a city bus. He passes the scene where he hit the Korean man the night before, and he notices that the keys remain in the Korean man’s ignition. He steals the van, and, upon opening the trunk, he discovers numerous Cambodian immigrants chained inside. Anthony decides to drive the car to Chinatown and set the Cambodian human trafficking victims free. After their release, Anthony passes a car crash that involves Shaniqua Johnson. As Anthony drives away, he hears the exchange of a series of racial slurs between those involved in the car accident.

Crash Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Crash is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Anna was paired with Danielle and said she liked being her partner. She also says, ”I wonder now if Mr. Terupt knew what he was starting between me and Danielle” (37). What does she mean by this?

I litterally love these books, okay so Mr. Terupt just made a bond between Danielle and Anna when he had paired them together so they had starting talking more and more as time porgressed

Why didn't the insurance cover (Persian guy's) ruined store?

I believe the store wasn't covered because the door hadn't been fixed properly.

Why was Jean yelling at Rick in their house?

Jean yells at Rick because he doesn't take her seriously when she says she wants the locks changed.

Rick: You've had a really tough night. I think it would be best if you just went upstairs right now and... Jean: [Interrupting] And what? Wait for...

Study Guide for Crash

Crash study guide contains a biography of director Paul Haggis, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Crash
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Crash

Crash essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Crash directed by Paul Haggis.

• The Damaging Treatment of Racism and the Assertion of Stereotypes in “Crash”

Wikipedia Entries for Crash

• Introduction

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Essays on Crash Movie

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Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas in The Film Crash

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