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Story of racial tension upstages gay cowboy film

Los Angeles, March 6. (AP): The ensemble drama ``Crash'' pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Academy Awards history, winning best picture over the cowboy romance ``Brokeback Mountain,'' which had been the front-runner. ``Crash,'' featuring a huge cast in crisscrossing story lines over a chaotic 36-hour period in Los Angeles, rode a late surge of praise that lifted it Sunday night past ``Brokeback Mountain,'' a film that had won most other key Hollywood honors. In a year of provocative films at the Oscars, ``Crash'' was one of the fiercest, a portrait of simmering racial and cultural tension among blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians and Arabs. The other best-picture nominees emerged either out of Hollywood studios or their art-house affiliates. But ``Crash'' was a true Oscar rarity, shot outside the system on a tiny $6.5 million (euro5.41 million) budget, then acquired by independent distributor Lionsgate at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, where the film premiered. ``Crash'' became a solid box-office hit, grossing $55 million (euro45.76 million) domestically. ``For so tiny a picture, go figure,'' ``Crash'' director and co-writer Paul Haggis had said earlier in awards season. ``It really is nice to see that once again, there are no rules in Hollywood. Every time someone tries to say this is the only way to make a film, to release a film, something comes along and surprises you. We were just as surprised as everyone else.'' The large cast of ``Crash'' includes supporting-actor nominee-winner Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Chris ``Ludacris'' Bridges, Jennifer Esposito and Ryan Phillippe.

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