The film Green Book,
a relatively non-controversial film, is the subject of controversy. Hollywood loves stirring up real or imagined
controversy to keep attention upon itself.
So do many film critics who wish to appear relevant.
In this 130-minute movie biopic, Don “Doc” Shirley (Mahershala Ali),
a black classical pianist, hires Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a
bouncer at a bar, for protection as he goes on a tour to play at a number of
venues in the south. The movie takes
place in the early 1960s. Though at
first ill at ease in the company of each other, they become the closest of
friends after many close calls. Both are
relieved to be leaving the south by the end of the film.
Besides Don and Tony, the only major character in the film
is Dolores (Linda Cardellini), Tony’s wife.
She’s the only one who seems to understand early on that Tony is a
better person than what we at first see. When Tony is not caught up in acting a
part, he is capable of sincere feeling.
Though popular with movie audiences, reviews of the film are
mixed. Some reviewers, unsure about what
they see on the screen, feel the need be on the safe side of any controversy. It’s difficult to take seriously such film
critics to begin with. They like to
describe the film as another Driving Ms.
Daisy, and claim Green Book is
really about a white savior upstaging the central black character on the
screen. In point of fact, Mortenson
portrays Tony as a character with racist tendencies who nevertheless comes
around to admire the black man he is there to protect. Tony grows up overtime throughout the course
of the film.
More to the point, the character of Shirley shows a great
deal more complexity and depth than some reviewers (and even other Hollywood
actors including Bill Murray) seem to acknowledge. He is neither stereotypical nor a sidekick
for Tony. Shirley, a black classical
pianist who also apparently was gay deciding to make a tour of the south in the
early 1960s, was certainly an anomaly.
He knew what he was getting into when taking the tour, and decided to go
ahead with it in any case. How could
such an individual not feel lonely or misunderstood at certain points in time?
Family members of Don “Doc” Shirley, one of the two main
characters in this biopic, object to the movie as not being true to the facts. The family felt that the film wrongly projected
Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali, as lonely and cut off from the black
community. They mention the real-life
Shirley’s involvement in the Selma march as evidence of this. Also, they claim there was no real friendship
between Shirley and Tony “Lip” Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen. They describe the relationship as an “employer-employee
relationship.”
I sympathize with such criticism if it was indeed true. But it’s not clear if the family got the
facts right. Don Shirley stated in the 2011
documentary, Lost Bohemia that: “I
trusted him [Tony Vallelonga] implicitly. Tony, not only was he my driver. We never had an employer-employee
relationship. We got to be friendly with
one another.”
Putting aside controversies, Peter Farrelly directs a straightforward
and overall entertaining film. Green Book is also a bit too
predictable. Going in, we know that the
two main characters will become friends by the film’s end.
Still, what is refreshing about this movie as compared to a
film like If Beale Street Could Talk, is that Green Book contains humor. Humor
is almost entirely missing in a Hollywood that takes itself far too
seriously. While Mortenson gets to say
most of the comic lines, Mahershala Ali provides his share of humor as
well. More importantly, the two
characters who have almost nothing in common, form a credible if difficult friendship. Green
Book is not a film that is cynical or crass.
© Robert S. Miller 2019
February 24, 2019
