Green Book (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Green Book (2018) – P. Farrelly

I appreciate the critiques of this film that argue that we don’t need yet another look at Black Lives as told through the eyes of a white character (and also written and directed by white guys).  We need to listen to black voices telling their own stories. I hope we are ready to listen and that we have reached a point where white audiences don’t need a surrogate, a version of themselves in the story, in order to listen, learn, and, yes, identify.  However, for those who need it, Green Book shows us the horrors of racism in the Deep South (circa early 1960s) through the experiences of Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from Brooklyn hired to drive Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a renowned pianist, on his trio’s concert tour (an “ironic” status reversal from, uh, Driving Miss Daisy). The arc of the plot sees a casually racist Tony change his views through his growing friendship with Don and his witnessing of Don’s harrowing experiences.  And, yes, it seems we do need to hear yet again about the horrors of racism, although again safely half a century in the past, because some lessons aren’t being learned.  Director Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber) infuses a little bit of comedy in the film and some nicely rendered period settings but this is mainstream filmmaking (of the most nonthreatening kind).  Both Mortensen (who gained a lot of weight) and Ali bring the acting acumen that elevates the film beyond its origins (although not methinks to Best Picture level, which it surprisingly won).