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Rosy Glasses

Come back home, Oscar! All is forgiven!

I am just back from seeing Crash, the surprise winner of this year's Oscar for Best Film. It seems that most people were expecting Brockeback Mountain to win and there were more than a few disgruntled people after the results were finally known.

I have to say, I tended to share the general feeling. No so anymore. I think Crash deserved to win as much as BBM.

Using a similar structure to Robert Altman's Short Cuts, this sometimes distressing, sometimes funny film is a powerful tirade against stereotypes and prejudice. Focusing on race relations in LA, the plot highlights the complexity of people's motives and the importance of treating people as individuals with their own stories, qualities and defects.

Despite a rather grim start, the film offers the possibility of redemption and some hope that things may improve, thankfully without falling the trap of the usual happy-clappy american happy ending.

Walking out in this first balmy night, I felt elated to be in London, seeing faces of all colours and shapes, earing languages I could recognise, others I couldn't. Even those damn tourists that seem to be forever in your way didn't seem quite as bad as usual.

This is a beautiful film might give you back your trust in humanity, at least for a few hours. It is one of those films you feel should should be compulsory to watch. Go and see it.

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