Ethical Dilemmas In The Movie Crash Directed By Paul Haggis

Paul Haggis, the director and co-writer of the movie Crash, might have had many reasons to make the movie but the principle reason was to show how human beings end up forming prejudices about others from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Ethical and moral dilemmas in the law enforcement agencies must have significantly influenced the making of the movie. This is because ethical issues affecting the law enforcement profession have in recent times received considerable criticism both in their moral standing and application (Albanese, 2006).

The 2005 movie Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, provides a good example of ethical dilemmas characters in the movie have to confront in their relationships with other characters. One of the leading characters facing a significantly difficult moral dilemma is Officer Tommy Hanson played by Ryan Phillipe. He is portrayed as the most morally upright officer at the beginning of the movie especially when he is compared to his partner Officer John Ryan played by Matt Dillon. Officer Ryan has all the characteristics and tendencies of being a racist.

However, as the movie progresses, Officer Hanson makes very unethical and morally wrong decisions and becomes just as racist as his partner Ryan. It is due to his unethical decision making approach that he ends up shooting a youthful African American male who he wrongfully assumed was a danger to his life. In the beginning of the movie, Hanson shows a high level of moral standards which ultimately drop when he becomes as racist as his partner.

Officer Hanson begins as a sympathetic character because he is new in the job and does not wield as much power as the more experienced officers. In the opening scene, Hanson and his partner John are given a report about a stolen black Escalade but when John pulls over a similar looking vehicle occupied by an interracial couple Hanson is quick enough to warn him, “that’s not the vehicle John, the plates don’t match…” (Crash, 2005). However, in an openly racist attitude, John humiliates the interracial couple by performing an unnecessary sobriety test and sexually assaults the driver’s wife played by Thandie Newton. The excuse he gives for his behavior is that the couple was behaving indecently by committing lewdly in public.

Rather than speak against his partner’s inappropriate behavior, Hanson simply tells John to let them go. In this instant, Hanson is experiencing a moral dilemma about whether to speak against the heinous crime he witnesses or simply shut up. He has the look of someone intent on taking action against the injustice perpetrated by his partner but he is powerless before John as a new officer so he simply lets the matters be. He is in an ethical dilemma over the racist act. This is the beginning of his descent into unethical conduct. However, the viewer can not help but sympathize with him and when compared to John, he emerges as the “good cop” with higher moral standards.

In his evaluation of ethical dilemmas among law enforcement officers, Albanese (2006) uses Aristotelian principles on what constitutes ethical conduct. From this approach, the recommended course of action for Officer Hanson would have been to openly prevent his partner from engaging in such racist and heinous acts regardless of the consequences of their professional relationship. Doing the right thing by adopting a positive approach would have been the morally permissible solution to his dilemma (Albanese, 2006).

Officer Hanson’s moral dilemma is further demonstrated when he goes to Lieutenant Dixon played by Keith David with intent to report John’s unethical conduct and request for a new partner. However, he is unable to report that his partner sexually assaulted a civilian woman and seems to be covering up the whole issue.

It can be argued that at this point he has decided to maintain his clean conscience and not make any attempts to stop the unjust and morally wrong acts of his fellow officer. He is torn between taking an ethical stand, which would consequently lead to loss of respect from fellow officers and acting for his own individual welfare. He resigns to the fact that his partner is “a racist prick” but chooses to keep a clear conscience because he “doesn’t want to stir up bad feelings” as a newbie policeman (Crash, 2005).

Hanson’s unethical approach is further described by Lt. Dixon when he tells him, “you don’t mind that there is a racist prick in the force, you just don’t want him to ride in your car” (Crash, 2005). Hanson’s action imply that his only wish is not to witness racist acts but the fact that such acts are allowed to go on in the force because others like him do not have the courage to file complaints does not affect him.

A major moral flaw on Hanson’s part that emerges in the movie is that he is more interested in keeping his job and earning the respect of his fellow officers than he is in serving justice to the public. His attempts to stand up for justice by offering to write an official complaint against his partner for racist conduct are thwarted by Lt. Dixon when he tells him that filing the complaint would put John out of the force and subsequently endanger their jobs as well. This leaves Hanson in another moral dilemma where he has to make a choice between taking an ethical course of action and going ahead to report a racist policeman for sexually assaulting an innocent woman and endangering his position in the force or letting matters be and keeping his job. According to ethical formalism or deontological ethics as espoused by Albanese, the most ethical and appropriate course of action for Hanson would be to do the right thing regardless of the consequences that will follow his action (Albanese, 2006).

In contrast to this deontological approach, Hanson acts on the basis of the following factors. The first one is that Officer John whom he is supposed to file a complaint against has been in the force for over seventeen years while he, Hanson, is newly recruited. Secondly, Hanson is not interested in losing his job and thirdly what good would his report do if Lt. Dixon is already aware of the fact that John is a racist but does not do anything about it?

It is also worth to remember that the only other alternative Hanson has of being reassigned from his partner is by going public with the fact that he suffers from uncontrollable flatulence which is something he does not want to broadcast. From a deontological perspective, his decision to go silent and even cover up for racist actions in the force and sexual abuse for fear of the consequences makes his behavior morally wrong and unethical.

One might also have to consider why the characters behave the way they do. What drives them to be racist and form prejudices even when they are aware that doing so both morally and ethically wrong? As Officer John Ryan states “You think you know who you are. You have no idea” (Crash, 2005). Hanson does not fully comprehend the meaning of this statement. In his view there are no grey areas and one is either a racist or not. However he later finds out the meaning of this statement when, despite the fact that he is the more fair minded and seemingly ethical of the two, he makes a rash decision and about Peter on the basis of race and kills him in the process. This act sums up the theme of the movie by showing how people end up being racist or acting in a morally and ethically wrong behavior.

The same theme about formation of prejudice is also repeated in the conflict between Farhad the Persian and Daniel the Hispanic. Farhad tries to shoot Daniel and realizes that he has accidentally shot Lara which he finds quite regrettable since he has wrongfully judged someone else just like others who came to rob his store had wrongfully judged him. It is also very intriguing morally when Officer Ryan saves Christine the woman he had sexually assaulted at the beginning of the movie.

In addressing moral issues, all the characters in the movie Crash end up forming prejudices without realizing the changes in their racial perceptions of other members of the society. It seems to be happening at a subconscious level. This unethical characteristic can be attributed to the kind of stereotypes that the society imposes on individuals which later affect the way they relate with others whom they consider to be different from them.

The scene where Hanson shoots Peter, played by Larenz Tate, provides a significantly major ethical dilemma in the movie. Hanson actually gives Peter a ride home which is an ethical thing do as Peter is out in the cold and Hanson is in a position to help him. However, Hanson later conforms to the pervading racist stereotyping behavior when he starts to examine Peter’s shabby look and concludes that the black man had not been ice skating but was doing something else that must have been illegal.

When Peter starts laughing due to a very innocent observation about a patron saint, Hanson’s prejudicial mind tells him that the black man is laughing at him. He conforms to the common racist preconception that all black men are thieves and believes Peter ids laughing because he intends to rob him.

When Peter innocently reaches in the pocket to show him what he had found to be very funny, Hanson believes Peter is reaching for a gun and shoots him instead. He realizes his mistake and does not want to confront the moral dilemma of whether to report the issue as is expected of him. Instead he makes a morally wrong and unethical decision to push Peter out of the car and set it on fire than turn himself in. He ends up losing all the respect the audience had for him. His unethical decision demonstrates a transition from a decent officer to a murderer.

The relationship between professionalism and ethics among police officers is one of the major issues that are highlighted in the media and other forms of informative platforms on a daily basis. As Albanese aptly puts it the link between professionalism and punishing or correcting offenders in the most competent way should be done ethically and morally even when no supervising authority is looking. This ethical dilemma between professional conduct and law enforcement is one of the major themes covered in the movie Crash.

References

Albanese, Jay S. (2006). Professional ethics in criminal justice: Being ethical when no one islooking. (2nd Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Publishing.

Cheadle, D. Haggis, P. & Schulman, C. (Producers), & Haggis, P. (Director). (2005). Crash[Motion Picture]. USA: Lions Gate.