Ruthless and delicate

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2019)

A delicate and precious film, ruthless towards good feelings but hopeful towards racism that comes from ignorance and not from the heart, when in the end human solidarity is still able to redeem men and their sins. It is a film that perhaps we Europeans cannot fully understand (even if racism begins again to meander dangerously between our feet) but I like to think that the choice of an Italian American of the populace as a counterpart to the cultured afro doctor American is not random. After all, among the many ugly figures that the driver does, in the end he is saved because he truly begins to believe in his neighbor, because in the end he makes himself loved, because he begins to understand and participate in the harshness of the battle, because he contrasts and shares a fundamental value, that of the family, which we once had but which we are losing today. Because it is true that in life you have to be what you are (otherwise you generate monsters) but what sense does it have if to crown a successful life, on Christmas Eve we find ourselves alone or worse on the point of death there was no one to greet us with the serenity of an affectionate embrace? Another element common to films that involve some form of catharsis is that of travel, an ancient metaphor for the path of the soul. I sincerely would have given the Oscar to Viggo Mortensen, more and more an actor of thick cast in roles that makes him look easy but that are not easy. And as the protagonist says, it's really a pleasure to see the landscapes that are the backdrop for this trip.