Great Movies
From: Mariano Kalfors, London, UK
While I agree with your summary that critics would do well to leave out the racial and sexual politics in their effort to castigate "Crash" in favour of "Brokeback Mountain," I heartily disagree with your opinion, simply from a storytelling point of view, that "Crash" is the better movie. While "Crash" is a modestly decent ensemble piece with a handful of, but not enough, great moments (largely thanks to a few great performances), it is still a mediocre and far too simplistic narrative pretending to be greater and more complex than the sum of its parts because of its serious and topical subject matter.
Paul Haggis treats what is essentially lightweight material far too heavy-handedly. I felt that "Brokeback Mountain" was simply the better movie thanks to being a great story supremely told by a director at his best, not to mention aided by exemplary performances from all of its cast.
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
