Crash review

 Number 383 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Haggis' crime drama film 'Crash.'

Crash follows a group of intersecting characters and how they interact with each other across Los Angeles. Some of these characters include LA District Attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser,) his wife Jean (Sandra Bullock) a collection of police officers including Graham Waters (Don Cheadle,) Sergeant John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Officer Tom Hansen (Ryan Philippe,) and film producer Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton.)

Crash won the Best film Oscar. This was a controversial decision as many thought that Brokeback Mountain should have won instead. Even director Paul Haggis doesn't think Crash should have won. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain so I can't comment on the first point, but I do agree that Crash wasn't a worthy Best Picture winner. It is an overly-ambitious and rushed film that tries to do too much in too little time. Rather than being a cohesive film, it is more of a collection of vignettes with a very loose story-thread connecting all the moving parts.

This thread is so loose that many of the connections feel contrived. Detective Graham Waters is looking for his errant brother, Peter (Larenz Tate) who just so happens to have been killed and left by the side of the road by Officer Tom Hansen. Not only that but he and his friend Anthony (Ludacris) carjack who else but Rick and Jean Cabot. When Christina is victim to a horrific car crash, who should come and save her but Sergeant John Ryan - a racist cop who sexually assaulted her the night before.

In my summary, I mentioned just a few of the different characters and storylines. There are so many that inevitably some do get overshadowed or short-changed. Despite Sandra Bullock being top-billed, she only appears in a handful of scenes. She initially comes across as a snooty and racially prejudiced woman - she doesn't like the locksmith Daniel (Michael Pena) because he is Hispanic. However, after a fall down the stairs where she is rescued by her Hispanic housekeeper, she has a change of heart. It's not exactly a road to Damascus moment, but we've given to understand that she's learned the error of her ways. At least that was the intention, but we really don't see enough evidence to justify this transformation.

I touched upon Christina's sexual assault earlier. This is played out in a great fashion. She and her husband Cameron are unjustly pulled over by Sergeant John Ryan. Ryan accosts the couple by accusing them of having oral sex while driving. He makes them exit the vehicle and then evasively searches Christine. He threatens to report Cameron's conviction unless he apologises for his supposed misoffence. Cameron does so and the two are let go. Later on, they have a huge fight as Christine is angry that Cameron allowed her to be taken advantage of. 

Skip to the car crash scene and Christine is being rescued by Ryan. This had the potential to be such an interesting plot thread. Christine's life is saved by the police officer who molested her. How does this change her thoughts on the police? How does this change her thoughts on being sexually assaulted? How will this affect her relationship with Cameron? We don't know, because her storyline is barely touched upon again. This isn't to denigrate Newton's acting. She was fantastic - conveying horror, panic and terror all in one, but her material short changed her. 

Speaking of acting, I also think that Terrence Howard was excellent. He is arguably less 'woke' than his wife and far more respectful of the police and white institutions in general. The two have a massive argument where she accuses him of not being as "black" as she. However, as he is slowly confronted with the bigotry all around him, especially in the film world, he becomes a pressure cooker waiting to blow. This happens when Peter and Anthony attempt to carjack him and are then confronted by none other than Tom Hansen. See what I said about contrivances? Anyway, in a sharp contrast to his previous encounter with police, he tearfully confronts the officers, ready to be shot by them. Terrence Howard played this part brilliantly - the indignation, the anger. It was great.

Anthony's storyline was also a little contrived. He is a carjacker, but he is also alert to the social injustice around him. After his failing carjacking of Cameron, the film producer tells him he is an embarrassment. Anthony goes onto carjack a white van which he takes to a fence. But, lo and behold, the fence is full of South-East Asian refugees. Instead of letting a fence buy them to sell them to the highest bidder, he frees them in the city's Chinatown. Again, I don't think there was enough groundwork to justify such a sudden change of heart. Sure, it was nice to see, but I don't think it made a lot of sense.

A separate storyline sees Iranian shop owner Farhad (Shaun Toub) buy a gun to confront the locksmith Daniel who he believes has robbed his shop. When he goes to shoot him, Daniel's daughter jumps in the way. But she is fine, as Farhad had unknowingly loaded his gun with blanks. Farhad shoots the daughter at point-blank range. Even blanks would do some damage at that short of a distance. This felt like another contrivance. Farhad is a tragic character - a man who has tried his best to realise the American Dream and cannot understand why he has not been more successful. He isn't an inherently bad man, but one who feels let down by the system. I guess if he had killed Daniel's daughter than his whole tragic backstory would be negated. It makes sense, but I wish they could have done this in a less contrived way. It was point-blank range. 

Crash was a good film. It was gripping, tense with good performances especially from Howard and Newton. But it needed to be longer so many of its storylines could be properly fleshed out. And I certainly don't think it deserved the Best Film Oscar.

Hotel Rwanda review

 Number 169 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2004 drama Hotel Rwanda.

Hotel Rwanda tells the real-life story of Paul Rusesabagina (portrayed by Don Cheadle) and his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo). Paul is the manager of the Hotel Des Milles Collines during the Rwandan genocide. He becomes a reluctant hero as he and his family begin sheltering Tutsi refugees against the Hutu militias who want to kill them all.

Claudia Puig of USA Today described this film as an African Schindler's List - a comparison that was running through my mind as well. Like Oskar Schindler, Paul Rusesabagina, despite being Hutu and in a position of respect and influence, does everything in his power to protect the oppressed Tutsis. However, unlike Schindler's List and The Pianist which detailed an unflinching portrayal of the Holocaust, Hotel Rwanda is far more understated. While sometimes it is better to depict a genocide in all its atrocious detail, at times it is also better to leave more to the imagination.

Throughout Hotel Rwanda, we hear a lot about the machetes that the Interahamwe militia use to kill the Tutsi, we don't witness any of these executions ourselves. Instead we hear the victim's screams or in a particular chilling scene, upon negotiating with Interahamwe leader Georges Rutaganda for supplies and refusing his offer to give up the Tutsi he is harbouring, on Paul's journey home, he finds that the road he and his traitorous receptionist (more on this later) Gregoire are driving on is uneven and bumpy. However, due to a fog, they are unable to see anything. Upon leaving the van, Paul is horrified to see that they have been driving on a road of bodies. I found this to be a far more subtle and sensitive way to depict the horrors of the genocide.

But, also importantly, the film focused on the plight of those left behind. While the UN is present with its peacekeeping force, their orders are to only evacuate foreign nationals i.e anybody who isn't Rwandan. The local church with its white missionaries arrive to be evacuated but their Rwandan congregation is refused entry. In a film, littered with heart-breaking scenes, this was the scene that told me that Hotel Rwanda is too upsetting for me to watch ever again.

Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte also star in supporting roles, Joaquin Phoenix as photojournalist Jack Daglish and Nolte as UN Colonel Oliver respectively. And while both men were only in supporting roles, they were some of the best characterisations within the film. Daglish is disgusted by a massacre that he films and the fact that he cannot do anything to help these people. Paul reassures him that when Western audiences see his footage, they will be moved to take action. Daglish disagrees with him, proclaiming that "they'll say that's disgusting and carry on eating their dinners." 

Truer words have never been spoken. Speaking as one of these privileged Westerners in my proverbial , ivory tower, it's difficult for me to truly connect with the struggles of these people as I am so far removed from them. And I think the same goes for lots of Western audiences. How many times have you seen a charity advert for starving African children and gone "oh that's awful. I can't imagine what that's like" before continuing on with your day? My answer to that. More times than I can count.

Nolte also bought a great humanity to the character of Colonel Oliver. In what could have easily been a generic army grunt, I truly felt the inner conflict that Oliver was feeling. Having connected with Paul and seen the horrors first-hand, he desperately wants to help them but his hands are tied by bureaucracy. Overworked and understaffed, I truly felt his frustration at his superiors who could not care less about the plight of the Rwandans for the sole reason that they're black. And I don't mean to be provocative, but truthful. Although interestingly Senator Romeo Dallaire, whom Oliver was based on, has always been a vocal critic of the film's historical accuracy.

And of course we have to applaud Don Cheadle who received an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina and deservingly so.  He was playing a man who had to survive in an impossible situation, and not just survive, but keep his Tutsi family alive, keep running his hotel, fend off the Interahamwe and look after the 1000 Tutsi refugees that he is harbouring. And that is exactly what he did. He managed to get every single one of those refugees to safety. I just wish that Sophie Okonedo had more to do. She is a great actress and I think she was short-changed in this film. Okonedo was great in the parts that she was in and was deserving of her Oscar nod, but her part could have been more interesting.

All in all though this was a brilliant film that broke my heart and made me cry many tears. Just don't ask me to watch it again. My heart couldn't take that.