Green Book

Some films come riding into cinemas on a wave of hype that's almost impossible to live up to. Others come in on the trail of nothing but bad buzz. You know what it's like. People moaning about every aspect of the film and as usual a large percentage of them haven't even seen it yet but get caught up in the bandwagon side of things. Green Book is one such film. I'm of the opinion that if you want to moan about a film you really should watch it first.

After he loses his job at the Copacabana a man called Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) is hired by a musician called Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) to be his driver on a trip into the American South. There's a couple of problems. Don Shirley is black and Tony Lip isn't exactly the most forward thinking person. Plus it's 1962 and the Southern states were not a place where black people were treated equally. Tony initially declines the job but when he sees his opportunities are limited he's forced to change his mind. So off they set with their green book to hand. The green book was a guide that helped with safe travel in the south. It was not a smooth trip.

Green Book feels like a film that should have been made in the late 60's with Sidney Poitier and Frank Sinatra in the lead roles. If it had been we'd look back on it with a smile and a little cringe. But it's been made in 2018, a time when race issues, especially in the States, are at their most complex and divisive. Green Book's racial politics are very simplistic in comparison. It's full of cringeworthy stereotypes and no lie, there's a moment in it where a black man is compelled to eat fried chicken by a white man. The connotations of the scene don't bear thinking about. God only knows what the writers were thinking.

And yet a lot of it works and that's all down to the leads and the warmth they create. We've seen chalk and cheese types thrown together many times in films so we know what will happen but seeing a friendship build is always entertaining. Don & Tony couldn't be more different. Refined vs vulgar. Soft spoken vs loud and violent. Picky eater vs competitive eater ( the pizza scene is hilarious ). They should not like each other. But slowly the walls between them crumble. Tony's rougher edges are sanded off just by being around Don and Don grows to like him when he realises Tony is more understanding than he (or we) first assumed. At their trip south continues the bigotry faced by Don builds but so does their relationship.

A lot has been made of the softening of the racism faced by Don Shirley in the south. Yes, a violent confrontation in a bar does pull it's punches (it is a 12 cert after all) but the film never shies from showing just how much of a third class citizen he becomes once their car crosses that old Mason Dixon line. Epiphets fly without apology, he's refused service in restaurants and haberdasheries and in one upsetting scene refused access to a WC in a house where he's just played. In the face of it all Don stays dignified. Ali excels here in his role. Keeping a straight face while sadness, loneliness and impotent rage blaze behind his eyes. The man can do an awful lot of acting while standing very still. Mortensen as Lip hams it up all over the shop. He's as broad a stereotype as you'll see but he's never not entertaining. His physical transformation from the days of Aragorn is something to behold too. That's what happens when you eat 26 hotdogs in a day to earn money I suppose. BTW the real Tony Lip eventually became somewhat of an actor in his later years. You might remember him as Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos.

Go see this and make up your own mind about it. I enjoyed it but can recognise that it's definitely not without its issues. Yes I realise this makes me look like a fence sitter but it is possible to like a film while knowing it's problematic and in a time when society is trying to force different people apart it's always good to see a story about bringing them together.