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Driving Miss Daisy Review by Harry There’s really not a lot to say about a movie like this. Driving Miss Daisy is flawless. It’s simple, but it’s complicated, much like the characters inhibiting the screen. Miss Daisy herself is an old bag who just likes to be independent, but inside of her she’s sweet, she’s caring, and most of all, she’s not prejudice. She just said so herself. Morgan Freeman is Hoke, a kind black man who drives her around because she’s old and can’t do it on her own. For the most part, this movie is just about them not being prejudice against each other, and according to the code of the south, they should be. Miss Daisy isn’t fit to drive anymore, so her son hires Hoke to do it for her. Hoke is played to the sweetest extent by Morgan Freeman (he is excellent, but isn't he always?), and every time he’s on the screen you just have to smile for him. He’s the nicest, sweetest man alive. Miss Daisy, on the other hand, hates the fact she even needs a chauffeur, and takes it out on poor Hoke. But he takes it with a smile, because he’s just so nice. The characters in this movie are so clearly defined and likeable (even Miss Daisy) that by the end of the movie you’re crying even though it ends on a happy note. Why the tears? Mainly because you wish you were still with them. They’re so nice. You know they’re both old, they never fall in love, but they’re friends until they die, and what then? Sadness, but that’s not the point. There’s so much happiness in the bleakness of life’s end that you cry tears of melancholy joy. You can’t help but wonder what might have been if they would have both been white. Or black. The color barrier is an issue, but it’s never so big of an issue that racism is on your mind any more than it should be. It’s a silent issue, really. People are just overcoming their bigotry, others are overcoming the hurt, and Miss Daisy and Hoke just want to drive around. As they do, they slowly develop a trust for each other that’s uncommon among differently colored people. That trust turns into friendship and reliance so gradually that you could measure it with the number of seconds gone by on your VCR timer. If you don’t love them both by the end of this movie the same way they love each other, look in the mirror: you probably don’t have a reflection.
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