Mortensen and Ali at the top of their game!

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2019)

Green Book is one of the best road movies in a long while. We have seen a lot of films that deal with "the Afro-American experience" in the last decade, some of which have been highlighted by various awards. But Green Book goes beyond them, because it covers the diasporic standpoint not just from an Afro-American perspective, but also suggests that white Americans have a cast system between them as well. As we see in the film, Italian-American, as opposed to Irish-American, British- American or German-American, is the black of the white race. This is where the chemistry between Tony Lip and Doc Shirley is formed; Shirley is a black man who lives by the white standards and cultural values, but as we see later; he has been through a lot, he has experienced what being Afro-American means in this country, although buried deep; he still knows his roots. But he has "whitened" himself to fit the society; and in Tony Lip, he sees himself, and Italian-American, not much different than himself, the only difference is, Tony does not care to hide his true identity and Shirley learns from him throughout the film.
Viggo Mortensen and Marshala Ali have a chemistry beyond words. They brilliantly convey the brotherhoodly bond between the characters to the audience.
Except for a few minor plotholes, this film is amazing.