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Driving Miss DaisyRating:
Release Date: 22 August, 1997 Retail Price: $19.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (10 total) |
Driving Miss Daisy Reviews
A great film
Beginning in Atlanta Georgia in 1948, Southern Jewish-matron Daisy Werthan looses control of her brand new '48 Packard while backing out of the garage. After panicking Miss Daisy slams on the gas (instead of the break) and backs her car into a ditch causing some concern for both her safety and her eligibility for motor vehicle insurance. In reference to these concerns, Boolie a local businessman and Miss Daisy's son, hires his mother a driver and purchases her a new 48 Hudson for his mother to ride in. When confronted with antagonism, Miss Daisies new driver Hoke meets confrontation with charming submission and an equally stubborn disposition as the decades pass by on there friendship.
Glasses
The opening dialoged in this movie is a conversation between Boolie and his mother Daisy would has just crashed her car. Boolie suggests that Miss Daisy needs glasses. He is somewhat comedic but overall forceful and logical. He is much less concerned with his mother's problem and much more concerned with fixing things. When he tells his mother she might need glasses Miss Daisy responds with, "the cumbers are nice this time of year". When Boolie tells his mother that she is lucky to be alive (and we'll come back to this later) Daisy tells her son "it was the cars fault".
Religion and Race
Religion too is a major point of discussion within this movie. At one point Daisy is upset with her son because he is "socializing with Episcopalians". The way the Boolie handles these comments is with sarcasm or to ignore her comments all together. As the movie progresses on however, Miss Daisy seems to gain some respect for Christianity claiming that Hoke is probably the only real Christian at a party. She also allows the death of her housekeeper and cook Idella to impact her view as she (who is normally very concerned about how she is be see) attends a primarily if not all black church for Idella's funeral. Later Daisy openly attends a dinner where Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr. is speaking.
At one point in the film the audience comes to learn that Miss Daisy's Temple has been bombed. At first she is complacent, but soon she becomes augmentative as she denies even the possibility that Hoke and his informative police officer are telling the truth. While Hokes age and experience has helped him to reflect and remember back on a similar incident of racism in his own past and where he seeks to share and remember Miss Daisy approaches this incident very similarly to the way she handles most problems in her aging life: she ignores the problem or she attempts to argue it away.
Independence
One of the most pivotal moments in the film comes when Hoke first begins to drive Miss Daisy. As Hoke says, "it took six days, the same time it took the Lord to make the world". As Daisy stubbornly walks to the local grocery store known as the Pigly Wiggly, Hoke begins to drive along beside her (we'll come back to this as well). Eventually overcome with embarrassment Miss Daisy gives in and gets into the car amidst the prying eyes of her neighbors.
Soon the issue becomes more obvious. Daisy states a number of times that she doesn't need a driver, and that her late husband had taught her how to drive and take care of a car. Clearly daisy feels that she is loosing control over her own life. She no longer cooks for herself, and she no longer drives herself and so she feels she must attempt to control everything she can. She tries to control her son and his marriage she tries to control how people view her in her community and interestingly though she cannot control the steering wheel she does control who has the keys and where the car is parked.
Space in the house
Another interesting piece of information the viewer is given comes from a conversation between Boolie and Daisy just after Hoke is hired. In there talk on the phone Daisy admits to her son that she doesn't want anyone in her house eating her food and taking up space. She deals with a common problem among retired people and wants her things to remain just as she has always had them. Although the care taker Idella has grown on her over the many years she remarks that Hoke makes her feel like she has "no privacy". Her response is to openly criticize everything Hoke does and to attempt to get rid of him. Hoke on the other hand is aging as well. However he deals with these issues in a very different way. For the most part Hoke approaches things with simple reason. He is not concerned about the neighbors; he parks the car in the best possible space. He is not going to be told when he can "make water" or have control over the keys, and even purchases the old Hudson commanding it for himself on his own terms. Although he too is feeling uncomfortable of being in Miss Daisy's space he feels the need to be useful.
Usefulness
Usefulness is certainly a large part of this story about ageing. Both characters in fact deal with this issue in different ways. For Hoke, he cannot handle making money without doing any work. Rather than getting paid and being lazy he sees opportunities to work all around the house (though Daisy won't allow it). Coming back to what I said earlier Hoke ultimately finds his usefulness in driving Miss Daisy as best he can. The pinnacle of this is the encounter where he drives beside her while she walks down to the Piggy Wiggly until she agrees to ride in the car.
For Daisy the issue is fairly similar. Daisy is often found talking about the good ol' days, when she was growing up; when there was little to eat and when things were hard. But she doesn't look back on those times as being a stain on her life as Hoke believes he might. Instead she looks back fondly on those times because she felt useful. This can most clearly be seen in the grave yard scene where Hoke reveals that he is functionally illiterate. Daisy reaches what is clearly her kindest moment in the film and things turn towards friendship when she tries to teach him how to read and when she smilingly hands him a reading workbook from her old days as a teacher.
The Death of a Friend
Certainly one of the most impacting movements of this film comes when Miss Idella passes away. Earlier in the film, just after crashing the car into the ditch Daisy's son Boolie had told his mother that she was lucky to be alive. Daisy's response was to ignore him and to blame the whole things on the car saying, "it was the cars fault". Here though we are confronted with an entirely new kind of Daisy. While she had been rejecting the idea that things were changing, while she had rejected to notion that she was getting older, needed glasses, or could possible die, now Daisy looks at things in a whole new light. The death of Idella forces her to look at her own life and in response to her death Daisy sadly tells Hoke that Idella was the Lucky one.
Aging
By the end of the movie each character has aged considerably. Boolie faces ageing with a smile and a joke telling his business friends that he has "less up here (hair) more down here (fat)" and that this has made him work harder. Hoke tells Daisy that the old Hudson is "in the Junk Yard now some 15 years" and leads the viewer into the next faze of Daisy's life where she has become confused at times and can no longer live at home. At this point we see Hoke in a very similar situation to the Daisy we were introduced to. Hokes eyes are bad and he is now driven around by granddaughter no longer able to do his life's work. Rather than the gradual acceptance of aging like Miss Daisy did, Hoke represents a kind of acceptance. He faces old age with a smile and with his old friend Miss Daisy by his side.
Driving Miss Daisy (Special Edition)
Finally a decent, dirt-speck free, clean print of this fine film. Also includes a few new bonus extras on the making of the film, as well as interesting commentary by its director. It'll make you want to head south for a plate of fried green tomatoes!
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