A wonderful surprise

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2018)

This film starts with a modest story, adequately told in the trailer and plot summary. I went because it sounded interesting, but I wasn't excited about it. The film surpassed my expectations, and I left the theater feeling entertained, better informed about history, and with renewed faith in human nature. The film develops the friendship between the two men as it shows the society of the early 1960s in the North East, the Midwest, and the South. It also exposed me to some modern jazz I hadn't heard, and some traditional jazz from the South that I was familiar with. It reminded me of the richness of American music. The prejudice of their time was depicted in a realistic enough way to bring up anxiety over the fear that minorities faced. In their time racism was ubiquitous; today it is dormant, but the last two years have reminded us that it can rise again if we allow it to. The two men brought their own biases to their meeting and working together, but their humanity and basic good will allowed them to see each other as individuals, overcome their biases, and support one another more over the course of their tour. The issues they faced were at times deathly serious, but their ability to laugh at absurd situations kept the overall tone from becoming dark. In the end, the film seemed like a mixture of comedy, light tragedy, and road trip. I highly recommend the film.