This is a film review with a difference. It reviews the film Crash (Director: Paul Haggis; U.S. 2005) with the themes of the Equilibrium bottle B55 – the Christ combination in Aura-Soma.
The opening sequence features drifting lights, white and red, they are out of focus headlights and tail lights. This colour symbolism at the start of the film gave me a jolt to wake up and take notice. They are the colours of the Christ bottle in the Aura-Soma Equilibrium range, Clear over Red. The ideas that follow are the result of considering the film in relation to the teachings of Christ.
The narrative of the film is composed of brilliantly interwoven threads of lives, lives that cross and interact one fateful 24 hour period. The central theme of the film is anger and forgiveness (a strong Christ theme that is also expressed in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us”. In a fairly subtle way the film shows that anger hurts the one who carries it. It is easy to strike out at the wrong person when you carry it. Either speak up in the moment against the trespass /wrongdoing, or forgive. Otherwise the anger continues and most likely erupts to hurt further innocents.
A lot of the anger in the story is caused by racism. The gunstore owner throws the Iraqi out of his shop for not understanding English well enough; the black thieves only rob whites; in the aftermath of the crash of the opening scene, the Hispanic and the Chinese ladies revert to attacking each other with racist taunts. It is hard to watch but brings into focus another key Christ theme; “Love your neighbour as yourself.” The film explores the way that judging and being judged affect us, how different people respond in different ways. It is fascinating how different characters are brought to their edges of pain. On the occasions when humanity wins through then there are truly moments of relief.
Strong secondary themes within the story are those of justice and fate. It is notable in the Tree of Life that the paths of Justice and the Wheel of Fortune (Fate) both point (albeit from a distance in the case of Justice) to the sphere of Netsach – the sphere of Feeling. Healing of feeling is an important part of the story too. Only after Sandra Bullock’s character acknowledges her anger does she come recognise her need for contact; the streetwise thief who initially has no empathy for his victims in the end comes to feel good in doing something positive for others.
Only one of the character interactions ends in tragedy and yet surprisingly it happens between two of the least offensive characters. On deeper thought though it is apparent that the habit of these two characters was not to confront the injustice of their fellows. It is yet another Christ theme. “Evil flourishes where good men do nothing”, the conclusion to draw seems to be “Have the courage to stand up”. Martin Luther King, a devout Christian lived this. As a human being he found the burden of being the figurehead for justice almost unbearable, he feared for his life, yet as a soldier of Christ he found strength to face the darkness and the danger. His observation was that it is only when man finds something he is willing to die for can he truly live.
It is a great film, the ingenuity of the story supported by the clever cutting between different threads of the plots make for a riveting watch. The message isn’t hammered home, different stories resolve in different ways, more or less neatly, the premise though is to do with justice and, underneath that, our common humanity – two things we innately hold to as children. Perhaps this is what we are being reminded of with the injunction “Be ye as little children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The whole story is set to the backdrop of the Christmas season, yet another Christ resonance. The time to remember Christ and Christian values: forgiveness and human brother / sisterhood. The film closes with snow, a miracle in itself in LA. Snow the return of innocence to earth, all is made clean white virginal once more.
It is a film I would highly recommend for anyone working with 55, 98, 104, and to a lesser extent any further Red / Pink / Clear combinations as well as 8, 13, 10. The film ends with another interracial argument kicking off in the wake of another car crash. The camera spirals out as the snow falls. Flashpoints arise every day. Yet in this film we are shown the other side of the coin too, a day of redemption, second chances and turning points.
If you would like to buy this film follow the link below.
