At the beginning of the film, there is the drum performance by a black child on the street, and I think the rapid and pressing rhythm symbolizes the beginning of the clashes between the two people and different cultures they come from. The restaurant “Africa cafe "they meet is also a place of cultural integration, where black waiters work together with their white colleagues. Just like the lie they make for how they have known each other: they clashed into each other.
The two are very different people. Bronte is a quiet girl, she has peace in herself. The first time she appears in the film, you heard a very tranquil voice pass through all the noises and chaos on the street. ——“How much is it?” When she tells the landlords how she would take care of the greenhouse, she speaks out all those names of plants in a way like she's reciting a poem. But Jorge's life is just like his appearance—disorders, fighting, conflicts. He is fired from the restaurant because he makes troubles and he even has been in the jail. I think this is one way she's different from Jorge, she's quiet, but he doesn't make peace.
One of the crashes is about Bronte's love for plants. When Jorge plants a tomato tree for Bronte, she got quite angry because she thinks he destroys her greenhouse. And she tells him to stay away from her place—the greenhouse. And Jorge thinks that she loves plants better than people. Then they argue about her gardening group—a group that tries to plant trees voluntarily for the children in the slums of the city who don't have trees to climb. Jorge thinks that's useless, because he's the one that comes from the slums, he knows how trivial significance those trees would make to those children. And he thinks that Bronte does this only to amuse herself, which is quite untrue from her point of view. The first time she entered into the greenhouse, it seems she has entered some fairy lands. She's so happy, just like she has met an old friend.From this we know how deeply she loves plants. She thinks this is one way to help those children who live in chaos and despair.
And that's another difference between them: Bronte knows quite well what she can give to other people and she takes giving as a basic principle of life. She's kind to people and holds an attitude so gentle to the world around her. While Jorge has had a hard life and in some way he hasn't learned to give, even he has got so much to give. He thinks Bronte's kindness to others is unnecessary, and he doesn't trust people.
Why there are such differences? That has something to do with their sharply contrast family background. Bronte has been well-educated; her father is a writer and wants her to be an artist. She's a typical urban woman. She has friends and families, so she learns from birth how to care for people and sympathize with them, especially to those that have an inferior social class. But Jorge has no formal education and left school when he was ten and home when he was 12. His father has always dreams about being a gypsy—a tramp, and that's exactly what Jorge was before he meets Bronte. And it's hard to expect a tramp to care about someone else. Jorge's not bothering about small matters and loving of being a tramp could be seen from his sloppy appearance and this do have a family origin.
So Jorge is quite free of all constraints and attachments in the world, while Bronte has families and friends and a boyfriend to care and hide from. She's not free as he is, that's why their attitudes towards life are so different: She wants the inspection over so that she can continue her life as before, a tendency to maintain what life already is and welcome no change; he's always waiting his life to begin. Change is good. To live is to enjoy your life. “He has passion, he eats life”, as Bronte says.
Another crash we can see from the film is the crash of French culture and American culture. Jorge is a French man, and to be French is to be romantic, careless and sloppy. While Bronte is an American, her way is direct and simple. When Jorge and Bronte meet at her house and the USCIS is coming to ask questions, Bronte gets very panic, feeling rushed inside, but Jorge seems not worry about it at all. He asked for a cup of coffee, walked around her house and looked at her photos, humming still. Americans like to cut to the chase right away, while French want to create some atmosphere before really talk the issue at hand.
Jorge and Bronte know each other better though their study of each other's habits. And the more they know each other, the more they are able to tolerate the other's difference. And each crash and crisis makes them shift attitudes towards each other sharply. The same goes with two cultures, when a culture is alien to another, it is very likely that they “hate” each other because of misunderstanding. People are too apt to blame what they don't know. The key to resolving conflicts is first to understand , and the way to understand is to clash. For through clashes, we see the differences and the reasons, and then there are possibilities for reconcile and a step forward to appreciate the differences of each other.
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