When talking divisive movies, the Crash that immediately jumps to mind is David Cronenberg's 1996 paraphilic thriller, but it's not the only movie with that title to get in on the fun. Upon initial release, Paul Haggis' Crash was treated as you'd expect; an interesting, if painfully on-the-nose look at the racism present in modern day L.A. It's not a movie that's typically controversial enough to warrant a long-standing debate, but that's mainly because much of the divide in opinion isn't to do with the film itself. Often a movie's detractors won't come out of the woodwork until it's celebrated beyond reason; it's fine for a film to make a few mistakes, as long as those mistakes aren't trumpeted as its glowing qualities. And when Crash came out of nowhere to win the Academy Award for Best Picture it's not surprising there was a massive backlash. In the decade since much of the debate around the film has been less about whether it's any good, but rather whether it deserved to snub award-favourite Brokeback Mountain, in many people's eyes a more mature movie, to the prize.
