Guilty white liberal critics can't stomach this true feel-good race relations story set in the early 60s Civil Rights era

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2018)

A fair number of film critics have argued that Peter Farrelly's Green Book, his new dramedy set in the early civil rights era of the 60s, is designed to make its chiefly white audience, "feel better about racism." Such a specious argument has it that the film promulgates the false notion that the racial tensions of today can be ignored (or even denied) primarily by white liberals by watching this optimistic tale of bonding between a gay black musician and Italian salt of the earth bouncer.

Some of these critics go further when they insist that the deck is stacked in favor of the protagonist Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), the gruff driver whom Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) hires to ensure that his concert tour of the deep South goes smoothly. Tony does so much more for Dr. Shirley, that some critics maintain that primary screenwriter Nick Vallelonga (Tony's real-life son) has turned his father into a "white savior."

Nothing actually can be further from the truth. Tony benefits from Dr. Shirley's influence just as much as Dr. Shirley from his. Their relationship is symbiotic. Both represent a fish out of water-Tony is exposed to Dr. Shirley's rarefied, world of culture while the sophisticated musician is forced by Tony to become more spontaneous, dealing with all the attendant street characters that challenge his ordered vision of the world.

What rankles many of these critics is that Dr. Shirley doesn't conform to their stereotyped image of what a black man should be. He's the opposite of "street culture," having grown up in a white world and trained as a classical musician. What's more he's gay and looks down on other blacks whom he regards as uncultured and uncouth. Indeed his decision to travel through the deep south as a goodwill ambassador marks this unusual man as courageous as he's forced to endure constant humiliation by a coterie of racists at every turn.

It's Dr. Shirley who forces Tony to re-evaluate his deep-set beliefs about race. When we first meet Tony, he looks down on black people so much that he places two drinking glasses in the garbage after he spies the two African-American plumbers at his house, drinking out of them. Tony eventually comes to realize that his employer doesn't fit his stereotyped view of blacks; how can it be that Dr. Shirley never eats fried chicken?

The comic scene where Tony persuades Dr. Shirley to eat the chicken is the beginning of Tony's reevaluation of his racism. Meanwhile, Dr. Shirley must effect an attitude re-adjustment of his own, eating the chicken with his fingers, manners which he initially regards as beneath him.

Other critics also feel that the screenwriters are much harder on Dr. Shirley than Tony. Where Dr. Shirley plays Cyrano, teaching Tony better manners on how to write proper love letters to his wife, Dr. Shirley is depicted with much more self-destructive traits-he has one too many drinks and finds himself surrounded by racists at a bar, finally rescued by Tony in the nick of time.

Both Tony and Dr. Shirley are social outcasts however; both have trouble controlling their temper and in this respect they're very similar. Tony ends up punching a police officer in the face over an ethnic insult and Dr. Shirley has to be stopped by Tony from attacking the maÃ®tre d who won't allow him to eat dinner with whites.

Perhaps the greatest scene in the film is when Tony and Dr. Shirley stop their car on the way to North Carolina and spy a group of black sharecroppers toiling away in the fields. This is where they both realize they have much more in common than the sharecroppers, who live a life of virtual indentured servitude.

At that moment Tony and Dr. Shirley can appreciate their freedom. It's a moment of epiphany for all characters concerned-the expression of wonderment on the faces of the sharecroppers whom have never seen an independent, "free" black man before; Dr. Shirley's realization of the true nature of the oppression of his people and Tony's appreciation of Dr. Shirley's sensitivity toward other blacks, whom perhaps in the past he would never have payed attention to.

The liberation of both Tony and Dr. Shirley is illustrated in the denouement. Dr. Shirley is able to "let loose," playing blues music at an African-American bar and Tony admonishes his relatives for speaking poorly of black people at the dinner table.

Ali shows his versatility as Dr. Shirley, playing the upper crust musician (in contrast to his street tough role in Moonlight) and Viggo Mortensen (gaining about 40 lbs. for the role), shows off his acting chops as the gruff Italian. Kudos also to director Peter Farrelly, usually known for low light comedies, but in this case venturing forward into much more rewarding territory.

Green Book is nothing more than a feel-good story about race relations based on a true story. For those who can't stomach such a note of optimism in the face of a disappointing historical legacy, shame on them!