I want to give credit here. Director Peter Farrelly (yes, the director of There’s Somthing About Mary) brings his A-game here. The film is beautifully shot, looking like a Norman Rockwell painting most of the time. Green Book is filled with gorgeous costumes, wonderfully structured scenes, and all the sorts of film qualities that Awards fall all over themselves to honour. There are the obligatory standing up to racist moments that will make the audiences cheer. Farrelly does good work as does his cast, but more on that later.
Green Book is the story of a white man. Sure Mahershala Ali has joint billing above the title but this is Viggo Mortensen’s character’s story. it is about his experience with American racism as he witnesses Ali’s experiences from the sidelines. He is awoken to the true American experience, one he was able to mostly ignore for most of his life, and it is his journey we are following. Ali is just along for the ride, literally and figuratively.
And that ride is rather predictable. Green Book is racism 101. It rarely gets into anything too layered (more on that later). While I didn’t feel Green Book got into white savior territory a la The Blind Side, it is still the story of a white man and his awakening to the horrors of racism, the kind of racism he benefits from. That is a story. And it is told well here. But it just may not be the entirety of the story. We are assured of Mortensen’s characters essential goodness (turns out he’s not homophobic, good on him) and that means that even when we benefit from racism we are also essentially good. What a relief for the white audience. Because we are making our little baby steps. We are applauded for doing so.
About half way through Green Book the film acknowledges this, if only slightly. When Mortensen claims it (the racist behaviour of other whites) is not his fault Ali asks him “isn’t it?” The film sort of drops it there but at least it waded into that thorny question. We come to learn more about Ali’s character and how his experience may have been even more challenging than we were originally presented with. We understand why he doesn’t get included easily into black communities either and why he might be a bit distant and protective. The film flirts with more complicated ideas but sticks safely in the slow lane allowing its audience to keep pace.
The film builds its characters as cliches at first. Ali is the effete snob and Mortensen is the thug with a heart of gold. But the film does allow them to grow beyond those stereotypes somewhat as it reaches its crescendo. Much of this is due to these two strong lead actors who bring much more subtly and nuance to their roles than the script would allow. Ali especially shines in a role that really isn’t designed to let him do that. He overcomes that smashingly. His Dr. Shirley is a revelation and he elevates the film.
Green Book pulls on your heart strings and will give any feeling person a tear in their eye, a happy tear that comes from that place where we think love truly can conquer all. Do I wish Green Book had been a more thoughtful, more substantial deconstruction of racist America? Sure. But that isn’t the purpose of this film. If it inspires us to look at each other a little more lovingly that is a good thing too. And it gives us some great performances to enjoy in a very well made film.
Green Book
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly
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