A well-deserved Oscar Best Picture win by the complex movie, “Crash,” whose blow-by-blow account of the lives of several individuals in a 36-hour timeline, as they come across extreme racial discrimination in North America!
Love it or hate it, you’ve gotta admit, the movie’s well-made. With smart editing, a good and honest story line, I was happy that it pulled a great Oscar upset over the favorite “Brokeback Mountain,” which I felt was merely so-so, save for the fact that it had great cinematography and a good adapted screenplay (Imagine making a 3-hour movie from an 11-page short story).
Honestly, “Brokeback Mountain” didn’t really do anything for me. It was far too slow for me, and I’ve never really gotten why others loved it so much. My friends say that Ang Lee did a good job in not highlighting Brokeback as a gay movie… but actually, I personally thought it screamed gay!
For example, the scene where both actors were in the tent and they start kissing. Heath Ledger protests and says, “I’m not gay!” to which Jake replies, “So am I!”
And then they proceed to take off their trousers and just do it.
That was just freaking hilarious!
Anyway, I don’t mean to offend anyone. I know a lot of people were rooting for Brokeback, especially here in Taiwan since it was directed by Taiwan-born Ang Lee (Well, he did win Best Director). Regardless, I sincerely felt that Crash deserved the win… for me, it was way moving than Brokeback, where the lines of good and bad were blurred. It was just a very honest film, and if you haven’t seen it yet, please do.
An anonymous Yahoo.com reviewer echoes my sentiments when he wrote:
“From the opening scene, where Don Cheadle offers his philosophies on life and violence in LA, I knew that I was in for a good ride. As a rule, my mind races ahead, successfully anticipating what is going to happen next, but with “Crash,” I was often way off. Nevertheless, each storyline was believable in the context of the whole. At one point, I felt that my own belief system, especially with respect to racial and ethnic prejudices, was being challenged, and I was not always pleasantly surprised by what I found inside of myself. By the end, however, I wasn’t feeling so bad, realizing that no one character was free from prejudice (except perhaps the child) and that no one incident could be fully understood in isolation; fortunately, we are left with the understanding that redemption is within everyone’s reach, depending, I suppose, on what fate has in store on any given day or at any given moment. Even though it would be easier to see this as a movie about issues revolving around the color of our skin or the country we are born in, I found it to be more about being human and dealing with the countless misunderstandings, whether we realize it or not, that we take part in each day, and that, despite our weaknesses, we are capable of amazing acts of courage, and, despite our goodness, we are capable of much evil, any of which transcends color, country of origin, religious belief, or economic status.”
Bravo to the entire Crash ensemble… you guys did great!
Good job you guys! 😀
