Summary
Waters is forced to give a verdict regarding the events of the shooting between the two undercover officers. Waters believes that the white officer is innocent. However, the DA investigator insists that the crime is race-motivated. The investigator urges Waters to take his position in order to support a non-racist image of the LAPD. The DA investigator tells Waters that his verdict will influence his professional career—there is an open position in the DA office, and Waters is a strong candidate.
As their conversation continues, we learn that Waters’s brother’s criminal file jeopardizes his chances of earning the job. Though the DA investigator claims to be racially progressive, he hypocritically launches into a series of insulting stereotypes about black men. At one point, he tells Detective Waters that black men “can’t keep their hands out of the cookie jar.” Though Waters is visibly offended by his colleague's racist remarks, he realizes that he must remain calm in order to secure his possibility of receiving a job promotion. In the concluding moment of this scene, we understand that Waters is faced with a dilemma: should he acquiesce and increase his professional marketability, or should he be honest to his personal beliefs? In the end, Waters approaches Cabot and gives him the answer he desires: the white officer should be prosecuted.
Anthony and Peter hijack another SUV, and the two are shocked to find that the driver is black. The vehicle belongs to Mr. Thayer, who violently retaliates against his assault. Anthony instructs Peter to shoot Thayer, but Peter runs away once he sees a police car pass. Thayer and Anthony re-enter the vehicle and race away, pursued by Detective Hansen. Once he reaches a dead-end, Cameron exits the car while Anthony hides in the passenger’s seat.
Clearly agitated by previous events, Thayer fails to comply with the trigger-happy police’s requests. He remains defiant, and he urges the police to shoot him instead of resorting to demeaning rhetoric. Hansen recognizes Thayer from the previous night, and it is clear that Hansen feels guilty about Ryan’s treatment of Christine. As the situation escalates, Hansen intervenes and claims that Cameron is his friend in order to avoid violence.
Thayer is ultimately let off with a warning, and the police learn nothing about the carjacking attempt. Shocked by the outcome of their encounter with the police and with each other, Thayer and Anthony drive away in silence. Cameron returns Anthony’s gun and lets him out of his car. As Anthony exits, Cameron tells him that his actions are “embarrassing.” Anthony appears to take Cameron’s words to heart. In the following scenes, we notice that this experience has caused a change in Anthony’s behavior.
Farhad, carrying his gun, approaches Daniel, the locksmith, outside the latter's home. Lara watches from the living room window as Farhad aims his gun at Daniel, demanding money. Understanding the danger of the situation, Lara runs into her father’s arms to protect him with her “invisible cloak.” Farhad shoots Lara in the back, and Daniel and his wife cry in agony. However, Lara is miraculously unharmed, as Dorri’s “red box of bullets” is actually a box of blank cartridges. The Ruiz family returns inside, while Farhad returns to his store. Humbled and grateful, Farhad tells Dorri that Lara is his guardian angel. He asks Dorri to take his gun away.
In her home, Mrs. Cabot complains about all of the things that have caused her aggravation—the police, her housekeeper, the gardener, and the dry-cleaners. When she finally confesses that she constantly feels angry, Mrs. Cabot slips and lays stranded on the stairs. The only person that comes to her aid is Maria, her housekeeper. Though Mrs. Cabot has previously treated Maria rudely, she warmly embraces Maria and refers to her as her “only true friend.”
Analysis
The scenes that appear in this sequence reveal that each character is beginning to experience the consequences of his/her previous actions. Firstly, Detective Waters is faced with three different conflicts: he is frustrated by the DA investigator’s racist accusations, he is aggravated with the society in which he lives and the difficulties of his position as a black detective, and he is frustrated with having to choose between moral integrity and professional advancement. During Waters’s conversation with the DA investigator, we are further made aware of how power functions in the film. Despite the investigator’s offensive comments, Waters chooses to go against his personal beliefs in order to advance his rank and conform to “the system.” The audience is reminded of Waters’s previous interaction with his mother and the rejection his past. In his decision, Waters recognizes the incongruence between his blackness and his profession. He continues to reject his identity in order to grow his career. However, we soon find that the rejection of Waters’s reality hurts those in his personal sphere.
The scenes involving both Mr. Thayer and Farhad demonstrate the normalization of violence, aggression, and gun use. Though Cameron has been emotionally withdrawn in the previous scenes, his arrival at the literal “dead end” causes him to finally act upon his deep-seated anger. Though their exchange is heated, Cameron and Anthony find themselves in the same boat. As black men, both understand how they are perceived by the racist police authorities.
Although Cameron is the victim of an attempted carjacking, he chooses to defend Anthony. Cameron’s decision to step out of the vehicle demonstrates that he is tired of living life passively—he is now willing to endanger himself in order to confront his oppressor. Hansen is able to actualize upon his supposed moral uprightness, but Thayer, scarred from his experience with Officer Ryan, continues to find himself humiliated and belittled by authority. This scene further demonstrates the motif of secrecy. As Anthony remains undiscovered in the vehicle’s front seat, we are reminded of other times in the story in which cars were used as a barrier to hide the truth.
The scene in which Lara jumps into her father’s arms is heavy with religious symbolism. The light that seeps through the window of the front door paints the scene in an ethereal hue, and the music is similar to a church hymnal. Lara’s characterization, initially established in the scene in which she hides under her bed, is developed further. Her behavior demonstrates her unique ability to combine naivety, conscientiousness, and hope to save both her father and his aggressor.
The motif of religion is further evident when Farhad refers to Lara as his “guardian angel.” However, Dorri is as much a guardian angel as the young Lara—both girls are products of their family, but they simultaneously use innocence and independence to enlighten their jaded fathers. Just as Daniel and Farhad find Lara an unlikely hero, Mrs. Cabot finds her own guardian angel in Maria. In these ways, the theme of crashing is reiterated. Both the “crash” of Farhad’s gun and the “crash” of Mrs. Cabot’s fall cause the characters to finally evaluate their circumstances and recognize their entitled behaviors.
