Crash

I predicted after I saw the trailer that this would be a movie that would be terrible but important to see for anyone who wanted to take part in any social discourse of any importance.
I likened it to Gone With the Wind, Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Birth of a Nation, Imitation of Life, Rebel Without a Cause, and a couple others. Note that not all of them had positive effects. Nor are most of them actually very good movies...nevertheless, they had important points to make.
Tonight our mentor group went to Crash. It is so much stronger than what I expected. It is not only going to prove to be important, it is actually a good, good movie.
It is an examination of many structures in todays society. It looks at gender stereotypes, race stereotypes, crime stereotypes...it examines the names, markers and labels we attach to other people. It pointed out the artificiality of most racial construction...lines about Puerto Ricans and Cubans having the same culture...one where they all park their cars on the line...moments after the same man (Don Cheadle, who was an exec producer, by the way) told his Mom he had to go because he was having sex with a white woman...because that would irritate her worse than having sex with a Mexican...which she wasn't anyway.
It had powerful examinations of theft, conflict, language barriers, intrafamily worries, and much, much more. And it had power.
There is a moment in the film that is so powerful that nearly a quarter of the audience literally cried out loud for several moments...the woman a couple seats from me was curled in a fetal position in the seat as sobs racked her body for almost 5 minutes. That is a powerful moment.
I like to think I am fairly color blind. I think of people as people, not as black men or asian women, not as a white child or an indian baby. They are people. I also try to look across gender lines and think of people as people rather than male or female. I like to think I don't assign specific gender roles that must be fulfilled, although I will admit to some preferences.
This movie is one that will really make you analyze that if you pay attention. This movie is a must see for anyone who is in the least concerned with issues of social justice and interaction. Crash. What happens when people collide but haven't learned to look at others as people.