Of Racial Tolerance

I watched an amazingly profound movie last night. It's called 'Crash' and touches on ethnic and racial issues in America. The movie is set in LA and the way the characters are developed is amazing. Each character has his/her own story and why they act the way they do. The stories of each character weave in and out of each other until finally they're all connected in one way or another.

The writing and the directing of this movie was done so well that you can't help but be so drawn into each story. Basically there are 2 cops - black and South American (who are also shagging each other), a District Attorney and his wife - both white, another pair of cops - both white (not shagging), a hi-fi TV director and his wife - both black, a locksmith - Latino and a shop owner - Persian. And they've all got their problems and issues to deal with.

The story opens with a car crash and cops around a highway where they're found a dead body. Then, flashback to 36 hours ago, and you're in a gun shop where a redneck American is selling a gun to a father-daughter pair who looks Middle Eastern. This couple is discussing about the gun in Arabic when the shop-keeper suddenly shouts at them and throws insults about them being Arabs and 9/11 etc. That's the whole tone of the movie. How people are so deep in their own perceptions and stereotypes of other races that it affects how they treat these other people.

My favourite storyline would be about the Latino locksmith and the Persian shop owner. It was so powerful and their final scene brought me to tears.

The movie showcases how dangerous stereotyping is. How your mindset can affect the way you treat others. Not only that, but how your circumstances also affect the way you act. For example, Matt Dillon's character, the police officer has a sick father who lost his job because of government policy to give it to the minority group which were the blacks. Then his father's health insurance has some kind of complications and when he goes to discuss with the person in charge, she's black and really bitchy. And so, because of this frustration, he pulls over a black couple and humiliates them. It's not that he really is a racist but just that his circumstances make the blacks look like the bad guys.

It's a really thought provoking show and I would encourage anyone to watch it.

Would love to write more but currently swamped with work and have lost the momentum :(