A 'Crash' on the Road to the Best Picture

So far, I've seen three of the films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: "Crash", "Brokeback Mountain", and "Munich." Of these three, while not a bad picture,"Crash" is by far the weakest. It is also the film that won, of course.

My thoughts on both "Brokeback Mountain" and "Munich" are both recorded elsewhere on this blog, but I haven't written about "Crash", mainly because I felt ambivalent about it. It is too forced, contrived, and stilted to really work as a serious drama. All the characters spout racist comments not because it is what they would naturally do as characters, but because the film is about racism and the screenplay requires that they do so.

For instance, in the aftermath of a car crash that opens the film, a woman from South America accuses the Chinese woman driver of the other car of not being able to drive because she's an Oriental. The Chinese woman angrily levels a similar race-based insult at her. Would either of these women really behave this way at an accident scene, belligerently exchanging racial comments? Highly doubtful. The same contrived insincerity glares out when a black male cop (Don Cheadle) makes a comment to his Hispanic lover about her culture "parking cars on their lawns." Say what? And the film is stuffed with scenes like this that do not ring true, incidents that are glaringly false, and coincidence stretched beyond believeability.

What "Crash" does have going for it is an excellent ensemble cast, including Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser in roles of a type they have seldom, if ever, tackled before. But the great cast does not make up for shallow plot contrivance. I am genuinely mystified that "Crash" won the Oscar nod over well-written, interesting, artistically shot films like "Munich" and "Brokeback Mountain." But I guess I shouldn't sweat it as the trail of Best Picture winners is littered with films that are largely, and deservedly, forgotten today, while other superior films lacked even a nomination.

Still, the wide acclaim "Crash" has received is puzzling. Anyone, especially admirers of the film, have any insights?