Haggis, P. (Director). (2005). Crash. [Motion Picture]. Los Angeles, CA: DEJ Productions.
Race and gender issues lead a group of individuals in Los Angeles to collide. Rick is an L.A. attorney whose wife doesn’t hide her hatred of people of different race than hers. This becomes clear once her car is stolen by two African American men. An African American couple is pulled over by Officer Ryan, who conducts an inappropriate search on the woman in the car. A Middle Eastern shop owner is threatened due to the 9/11 attacks, so he purchases a gun for safety. Also, Daniel, the locksmith and father, is faced with untrusting customers because of his color. In connection to class, this movie directly shows the true obstacles people of different backgrounds face each day. Being white in the United States, you do not have to deal with discrimination as other races do. Every character is treated differently in the film based on the color of their skin and their cultural background. Also, every character treats others in a different way based on the differences they have. A district attorney and his wife get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men; a rich black T.V. director and his wife get pulled over by a white racist cop and his reluctant partner; a detective and his Latina partner investigate a white cop who shot a black cop. Interlocking stories reach up and down class lines a dozen Los Angeles residents–black, white, Latino, Asian, and Persian. 112 min.
Movie Discussion Guide By: Sabrina Kwist, University of Vermont & Britt Andreatta, University of California http://www.oakland.edu/upload/docs/Instructor Handbook/Crash Movie Discussion Questions.pdf