My Review of the "Driving Lessons"

Learning is understanding of the world around us. Books, no doubt, are a great source of knowledge as they give us an idea about a particular subject in detail. But all that one could learn from it is limited to the level of knowing how a certain phenomenon occurs, or how a certain concept works. The knowledge gained through books by themselves cannot help anybody, because what one learns in the book must be applied in real life. For instance, a person who wants to learn driving can go through various manuals and guides that teach people how to drive, but all this knowledge is useful when you are actually driving the car on the roads. It would be an utter waste of time if one just reads the books and does not use this knowledge for practical purpose. The main character of the film that we watched in class, doesn`t have enough practice and experience, too. He has a driving test soon, but he still confuses the gas and brake…

Ben is busy on his summer holiday with the Bible study, housework and driving lessons, which he receives from his powerful and very religious mother. Also, in fact, his mother uses these lessons as a cover of cheating on her husband. It obviously can't be a dream for a seventeen-year-old boy, but he has no choice. However, his life begins to change when he find a job helping Evie, a rather vulgar, confident, but childish at the same time, former first lady of British theater and cinema.

As Evie said, "Life is a strange thing. When we think that everything is over, it shows such a landscape. And we don`t know where we are, what we are..." Thus, a retired lady appears in the life of a guy and is to turn upside down his understanding of everything. Evie lives every second, she loves life and enjoys all new experiences. In other words, she is a complete and unconditional opposite of Ben. So far. She breathes into him a breath of fresh air, making it clear that only he is free to decide their own destiny and make their own choices. "You can tell God I forced you". Soon, however, she does not have to force.

Spiritual intimacy combined these characters. They could not fail to become friends. "You have a poet's soul, and it is much more important than it looks." They both changed each other.

This film is mostly not about driving lessons, but the real-life lessons that Ben received from Evie. Thanks to Evie he finally sees what beautiful and varied life is, plunging into life with his head. Experience is the best teacher. Without Evie, Ben would be sitting in the church with his very religious mother all his life and will never see all that God has created for him.