Slow and steady wins the Oscar - "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)

This was not an easy one to get Mat to watch – it definitely screams ‘chick flick’ and this is exacerbated by the fact that for some completely bizarre reason his high school teachers felt that this was appropriate and entertaining fare for the the 7-11 boys while the year 12s had their muck up days. Every year for 5 years Mat was herded into a smelly gymnasium with 1000 other equally unimpressed pubescent boys to watch Miss Daisy and Hoke meander there way across the US and the decades. So you can imagine how thrilled he was when this came out of the hat!

But despite some fairly negative associations, he actually enjoyed this Best Picture Winner and rated it 69. I gave it 79 and our houseguest and guest reviewer, Gina, gave it 80.

This is a sweet and deceptively simple story that reflects the social change whipping through the south in the mid-twentieth century. The story follows the 25 year relationship between a stubborn Southern Jew and her African-American driver, a relationship that changes both of them and reflects the growing social changes in the South and the confusion many people must have felt as old divides and class distinctions became taboo.

I love Jessica Tandy, I should say that now and I’m so impressed she won the Best Actress Oscar for this role (making her the oldest winner at 81 years old). Her performance is rich, subtle, never clichéd and she lends depth and charm to a rather cantankerous old woman so stuck in her ways she’d fire a man over a tin of salmon rather than have his presence disturb her status quo.

Morgan Freeman plays a wonderful character; the proverbial stream wearing down Miss Daisy’s stone. He lends a grace and dignity to the role that you feel Hoke would have had to possess to survive for a quarter of a century!

This is so different to many of the winners we’ve watched so far, it’s quiet and unassuming. The humour is soft and real, the dialogue true to life and witty and the direction and score are beautiful additions while never over powering the scene or the flow. It’s not a big story – there are no wars or battlefields or great and famous heroes or struggles, just two people and the difference they made to each others lives. This makes the characters and the story eminently relatable despite the period setting (and our lack of Southern Jewish or African-American blood) and I think a worthy winner of the Best Picture Oscar.