Hello again, all! For this review, I'm going to be doing things a little differently. I will be comparing and contrasting two similarly themed films: "Crash," directed by Paul Haggis, and "Babel," directed by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu.
Both films follow similar plot lines: each movie is about different sets of people that are affected by each other in an indirect but significant way. Throughout the movie it is revealed that these people, who are are separated by distance, social status, and race, prove to be life changing elements in each other's lives. "Crash" takes place in Los Angeles, California, and "Babel" is more international, with stories taking place in Japan, Mexico, Morocco, and the United States.
The one I liked most is "Babel," even though it came out after "Crash." Here's why:
1. "Babel" takes place on a more global scale, so each intertwining story is way more interesting. It makes you think about the connections with people that you never knew you had. A man from Japan goes on a hunting trip to Morocco, and gives his guide his gun as a thank you. The Moroccan man then sells it to his friend, who gives it to his sons to protect their herd of goats, but they end up accidentally killing a woman from the U.S. This is just one story from the movie that made me think twice about how random people from (literally) thousands of miles away could affect my life in some way.
"Crash" is more locally based. When you have a bunch of people living in the same city, it's way more likely that those people will affect you at some point, because those are the people that live in your world with you. It's essentially a small world story, and "Babel" is way more of a big world story.
2. Whereas "Babel" is focused on basically a series of random and unfortunate events that affect different people, "Crash" is solely based on events based on racism within the city of Los Angeles. And we're not talking about level one racism here; we're talking about hit-you-over-the-head, over the top racism that I just found annoying and unbelievable. I know there are people out there who have a personal vendetta against some people based on their race, but this movie was just ridiculous. It wasn't subtle in the slightest, which makes me think the director was treating the audience like they were idiots. At least the racial discrimination in "Babel" was subtle and only a small part of the film. The fact that "Crash" was solely based on blatant racism really took me out of the drama of the movie.
3. "Babel" was more of an over-arching project that is a commentary of human nature and humility as a whole. It paints a better picture of humans and how they affect each other every day; "Crash" is just a story about terrible racist people who consciously decide to do terrible things to each other, and how those stories link together.
Pros for "Crash":
1. "Crash" wasn't all bad; the acting was intense and really good. Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard, Michael Pena, Matt Dillon and even Ludacris (yeah, the rapper) were super amazing. Heck, even Brendan Fraser was good in it. What sucked was the screenplay.
2. You get to see dramatic and uplifting change from some of these characters. For example, Sandra Bullock's character changes from a very racist politician's wife to a stronger woman who recognizes that all people don't fit their stereotype. These are changes that were believable and really made the movie for me.
Overall, both movies were good in their own way, but in terms of story and overall impact, "Babel" takes this one, hands down. Most people prefer "Crash" to "Babel," so I hope this review offers some insight to the film less investigated.
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