Serendipity
Gate-Crashing at the Oscars
Normally, I'd be more interested in what the Hollywood stars and nominees will be wearing instead of what or who will win during the annual Academy Awards. But for this year's awards night, I decided to forego of my usual fashion fixation and concentrate on who will win for Best Actor and Actress and what movie will actually bag the most coveted gold statuette. Besides, Hillary Swank was not a nominee, so I felt safe watching the main categories (so sue me, I'm not a Swank fan. Memories of her Karate Kid scenes with the late Pat Morita a.k.a Mr. Miyagi still send shivers down my spine).
Of course, being the smart aleck that I am, with a propensity for predicting who and what will win during the Oscars, it came as no surprise that Reese Witherspoon won as Best Actress. I've been a fan of hers since she was just wearing training bras (although I thought she would never get over those satiric Legally Blonde movies), and as long as it's not Swank (again!), I'm happy. For the Best Actor award, I actually had three favorites, Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), the talented Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote). The latter won and delivered a touching Oscar acceptance speech dedicated to his mother. What can I say, I just can't resist sensitive men who publicly, and in front of worldwide TV, declare their great love and affection for their moms.
But I guess the piece de resistance for this year's Oscars is the Best Picture winner, Crash. From what I've read, Brokeback Mountain was the strongest contender, but personally, I was rooting for Crash. I missed the movie when it was shown here (probably because nobody watched and they had to cut the screening schedule short - does this reflect our intelligence as a people? - hmmm...), so I had to, er, buy a pirated CD (my apologies, Edu!). I couldn't wait for it to come out on DVD, so I just did what any desperate movie buff would do - pay P80 and get it over and done with.
Luckily (and surprisingly), my bootleg DVD was a "clear" copy, which meant it didn't have those pidgin English subtitles that always makes me crazy, so I was really able to relish the movie from start to finish. I even wrote some notes about Crash and was in fact planning to write about it in this column a few months back, but decided not to considering that my readers actually react more when I write about bird's nest hairdos and unfaithful wives and husbands. And knowing me, I love it when people react to what I have to say, regardless of the nature of their reactions.
Crash is a movie where several characters of different racial backgrounds "collide" -- Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Iranians, Koreans, cops, criminals, the rich, the poor, etc.. The different stereotypes society has created for these people and their backgrounds affect their judgment, beliefs and actions toward each other, and in turn cause problems for each of them.
Paul Haggis directs and writes this movie with such directness and authenticity. The characters seem so real, with lines that could very well be coming directly from the streets of L.A. or any street in urban America for that matter. In this movie, all the characters are defined in one way or another by racism. All are guilty of it and all are victims of it. I guess if you've lived in the U.S. or in any foreign country outside of the Philippines where there is an invisible segregation of race and backgrounds, this movie will definitely be more significant and appreciated. I have seen, felt and experienced racism in America during my stay there and I've been guilty of stereotyping people based on their color and background too. I think that no matter how much we try to be politically correct about race and social backgrounds, our age-old perceptions have been so ingrained in each one of us that given a particular situation, we will readily leap to negative conclusions based on skin color.
Well, you all know what the lesson of our story is. Yes, we are entitled to make (racial) judgments, but the most important thing is, at the end of the day, we realize our mistakes and learn from our experiences. Why do we have to "crash and burn" when we can just "crash and learn"?
Back to the Oscars, it's always a joy to see good movies being recognized, be they about two gay cowboys or racist America. My question is, why can't we come up with movies like Crash or Brokeback Mountain in this country? I can count with my two hands the really good Pinoy movies I've seen in my lifetime. Oh, well - that's another story that I don't even want to write about lest I be accused of discriminating against my own race. Oy!