Taking the scenic route to understanding "Miss Daisy"

"Driving Miss Daisy" is that rare film that requires patience and trust, but the payoff is a rich emotional reward that can resonate with viewers who appreciate character-driven films. Here's the CineVerse group consensus on this 25-year-old gem from 1989:

HOW IS THIS FILM INTERESTING, DIFFERENT, DISTINCTIVE AND SURPRISING, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING ITS GENRE (DRAMA) AND SUBJECT MATTER (RACE RELATIONS)?

·       It’s very slow moving in plot, tone, direction and character action; it relies on subtlety, in the form of the actors’ nuanced performances and carefully crafted but sparse dialogue, to tell its story.

·       Consider the supposed lack of box-office appeal elements involved: this is a quiet, slow-moving film about two complete opposites—a middle-aged African American servant and a senior citizen Jewish woman; there is no sex or romantic subplot; very little action occurs. Considering these factors, it’s somewhat of a miracle that the film was a box-office success and winner of the Best Picture Academy Award.

·       It traces this special relationship over 25 years, showing an arc of development between two characters that is affected by cultural and sociological changes and the effects of aging.

·       It’s not heavy-handed, over-sentimental or ham-fisted in its messages or ideas. This could have, for example, been much more of a polemic on inherent racism in the South, or unfair class divisions, and painted everyone around Hoke and Daisy as either bigoted and villainous or victimized and exploited. Instead of being racially and politically overcharged, this picture is much more restrained and introspective of its characters.

HOW DOES THIS MOVIE AVOID BEING TOO RACIALLY INSENSITIVE, CONSIDERING THE SETUP—A BLACK MAN SERVING A WEALTHY OLD WHITE WOMAN?

·       Each character represents a minority—Hoke an African American and Daisy a Jew.

·       Each character is dependent on and subservient to the other—Hoke depends on Daisy for employment and must do her bidding as a chauffeur, but Daisy is equally dependent on Hoke, as she cannot drive, and later, we even see Hoke feed her as she cannot do so herself.

·       Each character also harbors his/her own racial prejudices, although these attitudes improve by the story’s end.

·       Daisy is also not the stereotypical white female “master” character you’d expect for this time and setting; ironically, she is a Jewish liberal living in the South, a region of systemic racism, conservative politics and Christian beliefs.

·       We see that both characters are victims of prejudice, as Daisy’s temple is bombed and she is referred to as an “old Jew woman” by the traffic cops, who also call Hoke the “N” word.

·       As reviewer Peter Rainer put in his write-up for the L.A. Times, “their mellowing relationship is meant to mirror the growth of civil rights in the South. Daisy is Jewish, so the movie is structured as a tale of two outcasts bonded by their stubborn pride.”

·       Also, despite the fact that Hoke is her chauffeur employee throughout most of the film, “Driving Miss Daisy is the story of the servant who is so faithful and selfless that he ceases to be a servant and becomes a friend…it suggests that the real rewards of servitude aren’t financial but emotional, and thus that the served need feel no guilt,” wrote critic Dave Kehr.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PRIMARY THEMES AND MESSAGES ESPOUSED IN “DRIVING MISS DAISY”?

·       The attraction of opposites—in this context, not a romantic attraction, but a Platonic camaraderie attraction.

·       The capacity for deep friendship to outlast the passing of time, the decline of the mind and body, racial insensitivity or social status.

·       The ability of peoples, cultures, and societies to change, evolve and progress over time, as these characters and the people and places around them changed after the civil rights movement.

·       We must overcome our intrinsic and instinctive bigotries and narrow-mindedness in order to foster invaluable friendships and relationships with other people and grow as a society.

·       The aged and disabled are deserving of our love, care and respect.

HAS THIS FILM AGED WELL AND GRACEFULLY, LOOKING AT IT 25 YEARS LATER, OR ARE WE SO CONDITIONED BY FASTER-PACED MOVIES TODAY THAT IT’S A HARDER SIT-THROUGH TODAY WITH ITS LEISURELY PACING AND THREADBARE PLOT?

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY BRUCE BERESFORD

·       Breaker Morant

·       Tender Mercies

·       Crimes of the Heart