Director: Peter Farrelly
Lead Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali,
Linda Cardellini
Screenwriters: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes
Currie, Peter Farrelly
Producers: Jim Burke, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter
Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Charles B. Wessler
Editor: Patrick J. Don Vito
Musical Director: Kris Bowers
Cinematographer: Sean Porter
Genre: Drama,
Comedy
Distributor: Pioneer
Films
Location: Louisiana,
USA
Running Time: 2 hr 9 min
Technical
assessment:
4.2
Moral
assessment:
4
CINEMA
rating:
V13
MTRCB
rating:
PG 13
You’re black. You’re gay. It’s the 60s—there’s a
toilet for whites, a separate toilet for blacks. And you’re a renowned
classical pianist, invited to perform before the most genteel audiences in the
Deep South with its long history of black slavery and racial segregation. Don
Shirley (Mahershala Ali) chooses to
make a concert tour in Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama
when he can be paid thrice as much in upscale New York. This he does to make a
political statement—for an end to discrimination. And for that he endures the cruelty
of the conflicted whites who applaud him for his music but refuse to have him
use the same toilet they use, much less dine in the same restaurant they dine. Shirley
knew he would be subjected to violence, so he hired Italian migrant and now New
York City bouncer “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) as driver. Tony’s job is to deflect the
blows against the great African-American artist so Shirley can complete his
tour and Tony gets to return home to his wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) in
time for Christmas. Shirley does not go unscathed, but Tony emerges exorcised
of his own prejudices.
Green Book
is based on a true story, while “The Green Book” is a little booklet of tips on
where to eat and where to sleep when you’re black and traveling in the Deep
South. It becomes the centerpiece of Tony’s initiation into the world of
segregation, which escaped his consciousness because he is white. With most of
their illuminating interactions happening in a green Cadillac, Ali and
Mortensen make the story move: Ali with his measured lines and guarded ways (for
which he wins a best supporting actor award), and Mortensen with his
unrestrained benevolence and glee. With fewer words, camera angles and
movements allow us to enter into the inner conflicts of the two, and to laugh
at their endearing quips and banters. The camera pans over rolling hills and
verdant landscapes with Kris Bowers’ music in the background, interspersed with
Aretha Franklin and Little Richard plus costume and production design to
recreate the mood of the 60s.
The magic of Green
Book is its play of contrast between Shirley’s fastidious discipline and
Tony’s street-smart hustle. But both converge on a shared humanity and
friendship, leaving us convinced that the key to communion is openness, to
tolerance is recognition—of the fundamental right to live our life just as
others have the same right to live their own. By using the language of cinema, director
Peter Farrelly paints for us the irrationalities and perversions of
discrimination on account of race, color, and gender. And with that same
language, he brings us back to the anchor that builds our character and forms
our beliefs and views—the family where life begins and where acceptance is a
given.—MOE
