Places in the Heart

In the middle of the depression, Edna (Sally Field) and her family seem to be one of the few lucky people in a small Texas town still living comfortably on a steady income, until her husband is accidentally killed by a drunk black man.  Suddenly, after years of only doing housework and raising kids, Edna must find a way to provide for her two small children and keep the bank from buying the house.  When a wandering black man, Moze (Danny Glover), who can do nothing but beg for work and food in the racist south, suggests that he help Edna turn her land into a cotton farm.  Seeing no other option that can keep her and the kids together, she becomes the face and Moze the know-how to running a cotton farm.  Along the way, Mr. Denby (Lane Smith) from the bank does, what he calls the Christian thing, and gives her his blind brother-in-law, Will (John Malkovich), as a paying tenant in her house.  Edna, Moze and Will become like family through hardships and tragedies to make the cotton farm a success.

One of the first obstacles that Edna and her gang face is a destructive tornado.  These scenes can be heart pounding and suspenseful for even the most seasoned storm chaser in tornado alley.  Between the daughter, Possum (Gennie James) playing alone in an upstairs room where a tree blows the wall in, and the son, Frank (Yankton Hatten), running from school across town with the tornado quickly approaching, we’re scared to think of the fate of Edna’s family.  Thankfully, both Will and Moze have formed an attachment to the kids enough to help ensure their safety, even by putting their own in danger.  The images of the aftermath of the storm are haunting and devastating, for me, they only echo the recent events in Alabama in Missouri.

Basically, the film is a sum of all my worst fears.  Becoming a widow with young kids and no work experience outside the home to make an income off of sounds like one of the worst predicaments I can imagine.  Of course, the time period set in the midst of the depression is just a double whammy.  And then the tornadoes seems like extra icing on the already decked out cake.

Even with all these fears helping me sympathize and identify with Edna and her lovable outcast gang, I didn’t find Places in the Heart to be anything of extra special significance.  I have no real complaints about the film, the acting was great all around and the story kept me intrigued from beginning to end.  Yet, there was just some spark of greatness that I’ve come to expect from most of these Best Picture nominees.  It’s always a little disappointing when just that one last element is missing.

“Peace of God.”

Driving Miss Daisy

Growing up, my dad would often deal with backseat driving by playfully swerving the car and saying, “Look, I’m driving Miss Daisy, woohoo!”  Somehow, this manifested the idea in my small mind that the Academy Award winning film Driving Miss Daisy was a slapstick comedy comparable to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  Parents have no idea the weird ideas they put in our heads, but I’m so glad this film did not live up to my childhood expectations.

Driving Miss Daisy is actually a film about an elderly woman in Georgia, who after accidentally backing her car into the brush and then down into the neighbor’s patio (a good six foot drop) is given a personal driver.  Daisy (Jessica Tandy) is an extremely high strung woman who will not show her embarrassment over the situation and much less, will not settle for someone to drive her around like she is too rich for her own good.  After her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), hires Hoke (Morgan Freeman) to drive his mother around, Daisy avoids Hoke and treats him like an unwanted person in her house.  To feel like he is earning the money Boolie pays him, whether he drives Daisy or not, Hoke finds other chores to do around the house, but Daisy always finds some excuse to make Hoke stop.

When Daisy finally has to go to the store, she insists on walking, but Hoke drives alongside her, just in case she wants a ride.  What gets her in the car is not the kindness Hoke is showing or tired feet, but a fear of keeping a certain reputation that seems in danger by certain people in a yard ahead.  As Daisy finally accepts Hoke, a bond slowly forms between the two.

Over the years, the relationship between Daisy and Hoke becomes a silently acknowledged friendship.  Daisy is always careful to keep her warm affections for Hoke at a distance.  She gives him a gift just before going to Boolie’s Christmas party, she stresses the fact that she is Jewish and therefore does not give Christmas gifts.

When the two set off for a road trip to Mobil for Daisy’s brother’s ninetieth birthday, it’s quite an eye opening adventure in their friendship.  It’s an era where Civil Rights are just starting to stir and a black man driving a white Jewish woman is bound to raise a few brows in Alabama.  The fact that Hoke cannot make his own pit stop at the rest areas is stressful when he has to pull over in the middle of the night and leave Daisy alone for a while.  It’s here, when she’s alone, in the dark of an area she doesn’t know that she looks so scared, anxious and frail.  It’s clear here that they mutually need each other for support.

The art direction of this film is perfectly wonderful in its simplicity.  The old cars and the details all over Daisy’s house give us a good sense of time, place and personality.  One of my favorite shots is a brief scene in a sun-room full of white wicker furniture.  Nowhere but in the mid-twentieth century south, in an elderly woman’s home would I imagine a room full of white wicker furniture to be so lovely and have have so much life.  And the makeup to transform these characters over the decades is absolutely remarkable and worth of the Oscar.

So why is Driving Miss Daisy the best picture of 1989?  Honestly, it just is.  It has a simple, sweet and elegantly told story that perfectly fits the time and place.  Tandy, Freeman and Aykroyd are an outstanding and heartwarming ensemble worthy of their Oscar win and nominations.  Stories of finding a new and unlikely friendship so late in life are so rare and beautiful that it makes Driving Miss Daisy a film to cherish.

“I taught some of the stupidest children God ever put on the face of this earth and all of them could read well enough to find a name on a tombstone.”

To Kill a Mockingbird

Most American high schools require their students to read Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, at some point.  Unfortunately, forcing literature onto a teenager doesn’t always encourage them to open their mind to it’s ideas.  Thankfully, I had Mrs. Essex that semester.  She led us into eye opening discussions about the novel and it’s fragile themes.  It was probably the first time I was within an honest and intelligent conversation about racism, sexual violence or childhood influences.  Of all the literature I was exposed to in my teens, this became one of my favorites and the most thought provoking.

The story takes place in an Alabama town during the depression.  Atticus (Gregory Peck) is the town’s lawyer, he’ll take any honest case and will accept payment in simple ways for people who are poor.  He’s a widower and father of two children, ten-year-old Jem (Phillip Alford) and six-year-old tomboy Scout (Mary Badham).  Jem, Scout and their friend Dill (John Megna) keep themselves busy just being curious kids around the neighborhood and fueling their imaginations with discoveries about the legendary Radley house.  When Atticus defends a local black man who has been accused of raping a white woman, Jem and Scout have many hard questions to ask and they witness their father stand against the crowd and do what is right.

In the film, we see that kids are just kids, but it’s what the adults around them do and say that form their senses and understanding of the world.  Perhaps it’s the lack of a strong female presence in Scout’s life that influences her tomboy ways, but Atticus is the perfect role model for her and Jem.  They’re lucky to have him, on the other end of the parental spectrum is the town drunk, Mr. Ewell (James Anderson).  He claims that his eighteen year old daughter, Mayella (Collin Wilcox), was raped and beaten by Tom Robinson (Brock Peters).  After the courtroom scene, it’s obvious who the real culprit is and how much Mr. Ewell has wronged his daughter throughout her life.

One of the greatest scenes is when Atticus is protecting Tom from the lynch mob.  Atticus is on the porch of the jail prepared to stand his ground, but hopes to do so peacefully.  When the mob arrives, mostly made up of poor, chubby farmers, Scout and Jem rush through the crowd to their father.  These men aren’t going to get violent with children around, right?  Then Scout takes her innocence to a new level and tries to have a friendly conversation with Mr. Cunningham, whom Atticus has helped in court before.  The shame on his face, from being picked out as a good man by a little girl when he has the intentions of killing a man is amazing and so moving.

I cannot go on enough about Gregory Peck’s Oscar winning performance as Atticus Finch.  He upholds the feelings the character evokes in the novel perfectly.  Atticus is the father everyone wants to have in some way.  He’s smart, never raises his voice, teaches his children well, both educationally and morally.  When Jem or Scout ask him tough questions, Atticus always knows what to say without sugarcoating the truth.  He’s as respectful to children as his is to adults, and in return earns their respect.  The AFI named Peck’s Atticus as the top screen hero in past hundred years.  That’s quite an honor for a character who might sum himself up as simply a father and a lawyer.

Everyone, especially parents, should see (and read) To Kill a Mockingbird.  Kids will be intrigued by Jem and Scouts adventures, but should have an adult on hand for tough questions about a certain word.  If you ever need a coach to help you explain things to little ones, just remember that Atticus is a role model for every child to look up to and all parents to emulate.

“There just didn’t seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn’t explain. Though it wasn’t a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends, Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that – but that was all he was good at… we thought.”