Discrimination and Culture

When Driss came to Philip's house the next day, he got the answer he wanted: Philip decided to keep him as his caregiver.

This answer is not unexpected. After that interview scene, everyone saw that Phillip favored him, and it was reasonable for him to get the job.

Soon, the housekeeper took Driss to visit his house. Driss was shocked when he saw the place Philip had prepared for him: he had his own dedicated room, his own bathroom, exquisite decorations, and items, and compared to his home, it was a completely different story.

The lives of the rich and the poor are two completely different worlds, and working as a caregiver here is many times better than working in a black person's own home.

These things seem to remind people once again of the gap between these two people. There is a huge disparity in identity and status between the two of them. Even if Driss gets here, he is just a caregiver.

How does the relationship between him and white people develop? This is what people expect to see.

The story is starting to get on track.

It's quite strange to have a black man living in such a big house. This was also everyone's consensus at the beginning.

The maid saw that the black man's room had become a pig's nest within a few days. The maid also looked scared and uneasy when she found the knife in the black man's bag. The black man's work and study were not smooth. He always made some unnecessary mistakes at work, making others look at him suspiciously.

Can such a person really make a good caregiver? Many people are full of doubts.

Only the old rich man was very insistent on this.

"The reason why I chose him is because he will not sympathize with me." When the maid mentioned this matter, Philip's half-closed eyes suddenly opened, and the light in his eyes was very sharp, "What I need, it's not sympathy! I'm not a waste. Don't treat me like a waste!"

The sympathy of those people caused Philip's anger. He was disabled, but he did not become decadent because of it. He is still a mature person with his own judgment and his own ideas.

This is immediately reflected in the subsequent plot.

Immediately after experiencing the check-in, the movie began to pay attention to their daily lives. Trivial matters run through their lives; these trivial matters are the soil from which their friendship sprouts.

The foundation of this friendship is naturally two hearts.

Although Philip is disabled, he has never been a boring, joyless person. Although his body was basically unable to move, his mind did not die because of this.

When Driss mistakenly mistook foot cream for shampoo, applied it on his head, and complained about the lack of blisters, he would mockingly say that his feet had never been so well groomed. 

When Driss thought long socks were stockings, he would joke he was a woman and reluctantly put on the stockings on him. 

Even when Driss discovered that Philip had no feeling in his legs, he couldn't help but pour hot water on his legs to test, and he could calmly ask if you have had enough.

It can be seen that this old man is not a good person. When others make mistakes, he will still ridicule and criticize them sharply. But whether it's his taunting or joking, they are all about Driss's mistakes and lack of seriousness in his work, but he never made any accusations of Driss's identity.

Just as Driss did not particularly care whether Philip was disabled, Philip did not care whether he was black.

He doesn't care about Driss's skin color, nor does he care about the customs and culture of Driss's black people. This is the most rare thing.

In mainstream society, black culture is associated with vulgarity and rudeness. 

Very few white people can appreciate black culture, and even some wealthy blacks don't particularly like the customs and culture of lower-class blacks. 

In their view, discriminating against black culture is not discriminating against black people, but for black people, this itself is also an insult.

But after becoming disabled, Philip is different from others. His psychology is much more sensitive than others. He can skip those external rude behaviors and look directly at whether people are kind in their hearts.

Compared with the hypocritical and pretentious white culture, which is obviously discrimination but disguised as compassion, he is more able to appreciate black culture. 

Although Driss was vulgar, rude, and sometimes vicious, he never concealed his attitude, which made Philip acceptable.

And after he accepts it, he will also find fun for himself in life.

In fact, Philip is not a dull and boring person in the story. Although he is rich, he also has a strong sense of adventure and interest in life. His paralysis came from playing sports like skydiving. He was originally a person who knew how to live.

A person who understands life will not laugh at other people's taste in life. Whether Driss was joking about setting up a special server profile or joking about Philip's non-feeling leg, these were things Philip could have forgiven.

And this also made Driss become more and more relaxed in front of him. After giving him another massage, he would ask Philip to hold his fist and then fist-bump with him; among Philip's pile of letters, he would take letters sent by women in certain special service industries and even joke with Philip. He will try some over-the-top jokes, although he himself knows that they are not good.

After all, with such a tolerant friend, how could he not let go?

What's even more gratifying is that even if he lets go, he doesn't have a lot of incorrect pity for Philip. 

He resisted wearing long socks for Philip because he thought men should not wear stockings; he joked with Philip over the letters because he also regarded Philip as an ordinary man at this time rather than a boss and patient. He refused to use a special care vehicle when he went out. Because, in his opinion, that thing was for animals and should not be used by humans. 

At these times, he saw Philip as a man, a friend, a normal person with a slight problem, rather than someone who is already useless and needs someone to care for everything.

The mutual understanding between the two people continues to heat up during their contact day and night. Black people don't realize their disabilities in front of white people, and white people don't care about black people's seemingly vulgar culture. 

There is a good understanding between the two of them.

And in a subtle way. They are also influencing each other.

In Philip's house, Driss began to come into contact with all kinds of knowledge that had been impossible to reach before. Classical music, opera, and art appreciation began to enter Driss's life. 

Driss did not fully understand these things. But this does not prevent him from understanding the beauty of these things bit by bit. 

He could laugh out loud when watching satirical operas, and when he saw that artworks were valuable, he was ready to imitate them in painting. And classical music was very good to him on the first day he stepped into Philip's house.

Elegant things actually don't look that otherworldly. Even an ordinary black caregiver can appreciate the beauty in it. You can also learn these things.

Likewise, Philip was also influenced by Driss.

When someone else's car was parked at Philip's door, Driss rushed up and pulled that person out of the car. When Philip saw it, he would also sigh that it was really effective and express his appreciation for how black people dealt with it. 

When Driss suggested that Philip educate his daughter, Philip would also listen to the suggestion and discipline his daughter. 

Philip corresponded with his female friend for half a year, writing various poems in the letters, but he dared not make further statements. Driss also boldly suggested that he stop playing with these lies and send a photo to see the other person's answer.

Driss influenced Philip with his own attitude towards life. He broke Philip's original upper-class life, which was gentle but constantly exposed falseness and pretense. 

He used black-style frankness and even some rough ways to influence Philip. Following Philip's life made it very different from the past.

The next nearly forty minutes of the movie revolve around the lives of these two people. Their daily life is interspersed with some banter, some humor, some ways of treating relatives and friends, and more importantly, the two of them influence each other and grow together.

They can even take care of each other's families. 

When Driss's brother was arrested, he needed to go home to take care of him, and Philip would also ask him about the situation at home. 

As for Philip's daughter, Driss also expressed some opinions on this because she was not sensible enough and reminded her that other servants did not dare to do so.

For such things is friendship.

Under Driss's guidance, they began to try something they had never done before. 

Driss would take the initiative to bring the cigarette to Philip's mouth and let Philip try the feeling of smoking. 

While Philip was writing his love letters, Driss would constantly come up with bad ideas around him.

Driss would also drive Philip's Maserati to go out with Philip or change the speed of Philip's wheelchair and take him to enjoy this kind of alternative ride. 

He would even take Philip to get a massage.

These things are very different from Philip's life. In his previous life, these things did not exist.

As the audience looked at these things, they gradually gained some resonance.

There will always be such harmful friends in people's lives. These people will teach you how to smoke, help you pick up girls, take you for rides, and do all kinds of things. They don't have any bad intentions; they do these things because they enjoy it and want others to enjoy it. 

In some people's eyes, these things are absolutely not allowed to be done, but for friends, these are some quite happy memories.

Maybe a person like Driss is not a good friend, but he is indeed a good friend.

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Marcelo Maia

Britanna

Mandy G

Scott DePaepe

Oluwatimileyin Olayemi

Herylle Ian Gloria

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.