SimonJack
"Driving Miss Daisy" is a wonderful movie about a friendship that developed between an aging white widow and an aging black man in the South of the early to mid-20th century. Daisy Werthan is a cantankerous widow, a long-retired teacher, who lives in the family's large home with a black woman servant, Idella. She is wealthy but is frugal from her upbringing. The film makes it a point that she and her son, Boolie, are Jewish. Hoke Colburn is a genial uneducated black man, wise for his age and experience. After Daisy has an accident that totals her car, she can no longer drive. Boolie hires Hoke to be her driver. I missed this film when it came out in theaters; and looked forward to watching it on DVD.While the focus is on the two stars, played exceptionally well by Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, the movie has a clear message and judgment of the people and place at the time. Racial segregation yet was the standard in the South, and the movement for ending the last shackles of slavery – segregation and discrimination – was just coming to life. Toward the end of the film, when she is nearing her 90th birthday, she attends a dinner at an antebellum estate or hall. The speaker is Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While we don't see MLK, we hear part of his speech as the scene switches between Daisy and other people at dinner tables, and Hoke sitting alone in the car outside and listening to the talk on the radio. . But first, on the drive to the dinner, Daisy says to Hoke, "Boolie said you wanted to go with me to this dinner. Did you tell him that?" Hoke, "No, ma'am, I didn't." Daisy, "I didn't think so. What'd be the point? You can hear him whenever you want. I think it's wonderful the way things are changin'." After they arrive, they have an exchange and Hoke gets out of the car and says to himself, "Talk about things changin'. They ain't changed all that much."In the dining room, we see Daisy and the other dinner guests – white and black – looking off screen as MLK speaks. "Yet, there are in the white South, millions of people of good will whose voices are yet unheard, whose course is yet unclear, and whose courageous acts are yet unseen. These millions are called upon to gird their courage to speak out. To offer leadership that is needed. History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people. Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and acts of the children of darkness but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light." (This speech by MLK Jr took place on January 2, 1965, in Atlanta, Georgia.)As Jews, Daisy and Boolie know a little about prejudice and injustice. The Holocaust of World War II was fresh in the public mind. Yet, their Jewishness doesn't appear to have hurt them in anyway. Boolie receives a man-of-the-year award in Atlanta. Yet, he worries that going to the MLK dinner could affect his business – some of which might move over to a Jew from New York. They both say they aren't prejudiced, and Boolie is very kind and respectful toward blacks. But, Daisy has grown up with prejudice that she doesn't recognize. When she finds that a can of salmon was missing, she suspects Hoke. She says, "that kind" can't be trusted. As the years pass, Daisy becomes more friendly with Hoke. But, at the dinner, as she listened to MLK speak, did Daisy ask herself if she had bothered to lift a finger to help end segregation? Or, had she been a part of the apathy and indifference?In the closing scene, Hoke and Boolie visit Daisy two years after she has moved to a retirement home. She sends Boolie off, so she and Hoke can talk. She tells Hoke, "You're my best friend." Hoke says, "Oh, look. You haven't eaten your Thanksgiving pie." Daisy smiles and fumbles for a spoon. Hoke says, "Here, let me help you." He offers a spoon of pie and she eats it slowly. Then another bite, and another, and the music plays as the film ends. That was a powerful scene to me. An uneducated black man of the South, gently spoon-feeding an aged wealthy, white woman of the South who, so slowly even in old age, came to change her ways.Jessica Tandy surely deserved her best actress Oscar. The movie won four Oscars in 1989, including best picture. Morgan Freeman surely was deserving of his best actor nomination. But, his competition was very strong, including great performances by Kenneth Branagh in "Henry V" and by the winner, Daniel Day-Lewis, in "My Left Foot." I enjoy Freeman in all his movies I've seen. He's so often cast as the president, or a senator, or an organization head in action and mystery films. It's good to see him in a film in which he more fully can use his wonderful acting skills. Dan Aykroyd is excellent as Boolie. The producers must have rented all the 1940s and 1950s vintage cars they could find for the various driving and street scenes. I wonder if a short scene toward the end was intended as a political dig. Boolie tells Daisy that his wife, Florine, is away at a function as "a Republican delegate." Indeed, the South was beginning to change.
JaydoDre
Did Morgan Freeman find an elixir of life? He is playing an old man in this movie and that was 26 years ago (from the time of this review)! Anyway, Driving Miss Daisy is a film centering on the relationship between an aging Jewish lady, played by Jessica Tandy, and her black driver, played by Morgan Freeman, appointed to her against her will when she can no longer drive herself.The movie is supposed to cover 25 years and the movie tries to be subtle about its time progression. It uses ways like the change of cars and makeup, and sometimes also spells out the year on a particular item, like a trophy. While this is an intelligent and praiseworthy attempt, it ultimately fails because Morgan Freeman does not look any older as the movie progresses and Jessica only looks older towards the 2nd half. You have to pay attention to the little things know where you are.That is just a minor complaint but it brings us to a larger one: not much is going on in this movie in the 25 years it supposedly takes. Now, before the millions of you come yelling at me that this is not some action movie, I am well aware of that.Obviously, this movie is about the relationship between the two main characters, so the story is not as important, but there is a strange stagnation in both the relationship and the story surrounding it. In fact, Freeman's character actually says so out loud towards the end of the film. The chauffeur always stays outside of anywhere they drive to and these two people do not experience much together. They end at friendlier terms than the ones at which they started, but that is about it.Yes, it is commendable that the movie did not go the romantic way. It could have been easy for it to go the cheap way and show the two main characters fall obviously in love and it is good that the movie avoids this, as well as puts mental barriers in the path of their relationship, but again, in supposedly 25 years very little change shows in the behavior between these two or their situation (apart from getting weaker from age). The movie really is about driving Miss Daisy and is perhaps a little too subtle for its own good.Now, having said that, Morgan Freeman is awesome as the old southern black man. The acting and his accent are fun and his ability to portray this character with realism is praiseworthy. Jessica Tandy is also quite a brilliant actress considering how well she portrayed aging. The difference between her manner at the beginning of the movie and at the end is quite staggering. Their relationship together is interesting and has believability.The is realism overall is high. I do not know the exact nature of conversations and relationships from the period covered, but besides having some anti-racist undertones in its story (probably to try and offset the potential offense of the main premise), the movie is surprisingly raw when it comes to showing the people and their feelings. Freeman's character is polite but he still has his dignity and his own opinions. Tandy's character, although wants to be seen as progressive, is still an old lady with her own special ways.Driving Miss Daisy is a good well-acted film that can be taken seriously and leaves you with a good feeling, but one could desire that a little bit more happens with the relationships and events. At this point I cannot find a reason to watch this movie a second time.
