Green Book

The Green Book

A fabulous movie. This film is more than road trip/buddy movie. There are revelations from both sides of the racial divide. The Green Book  refers to “The Negro Motorist Green Book”, a guidebook for African-American travelers to help them find motels and restaurants in the south that accept them. Tony Lip (a.k.a.-Tony Vallelonga), Viggo Mortensen, is the driver and bodyguard hired by Dr. Don Shirly, Mahersharla Ali, accompanying him on his two month piano recital tour in the deep south.

Viggo Mortensen inhabits his character. He gains copious amounts of weight. For all of Tony’s faults and crudeness he is  sincere and loyal. He says what he means and means what he says. Viggo plays the role confidently and with ease. However, when some one has to have their face busted Tony does a good job. He is a prodigious eater. In one scene Tony folds up an entire pizza and chomps down it. I never saw no one on Mulberry street eat a whole pizza like that… maybe half.

Ali plays Dr. Shirly (PhD)  a person deeply uncomfortable in his own skin. He is highly educated, a virtuoso and eccentric. His world is insulated. He knows Chopin and Liszt, but never heard of Little Richard. His performance is tense and has an unsettled persona. He initially disdains  Tony’s manner and petty larceny. Their relationship evolves from employer/employee to two guys on the road. For all his refinement  Dr. Shirly lacks a sureness that comes naturally to Tony. In one scene they stop on the highway and across the road share croppers are tending the field. The share croppers incredulously  stare at Dr. Shirly, a black man in a suit driven by a white man. Shirly is transfixed but he cannot relate; he does not want to relate. The share croppers  are a lineage he disdains. Dr. Shirly has his demons which are tamed  nightly drinking a bottle of Cutty Sark.

This is basically a two character movie, which makes it great. The magic of the film is that during their journey these two polar opposites come to respect and care for each other. Both have their faults. Given Tony’s working class background and his association with the “Boys” he harbors  prejudices accepted by his class. With Dr. Shelby’s lofty position it is natural for him to look down at his lessors. Overcoming these limitations is the heat of the film.

p.s. The movie is a dramatization of actual people.