A Perfect Picture about Accepting our Differences

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2019)

"The whole story is about love... it's about loving each other despite our differences and finding out the truth about who we are; we're the same people."
These are the words of Director Peter Farrelly upon accepting the movie's well deserved Best Picture Academy Award. Despite all the controversy about the film at the moment I must say I have enjoyed it. Spike Lee and other not-so-enthusiasts set aside, Green Book is the perfect metaphor; a symbol of pacifism and interracial respect that we should all take into personal account.
African-American piano virtuoso Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Italian-American Tony "Tony Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) face a fair share of injustice and discrimination as they travel together through Southern USA, encountering all sorts of people types and scenarios that they must work together to resolve. Ali's character is a reserved, unspoken type with a pacifistic approach to the dilemmas the pair find themselves in, with Tony being quite the polar opposite. But at the end of the day, the two are safe from trouble and on their way to the next location. As the film moves on, we watch the pair get to know each other and respect each other for their own differences, a rather satisfying feeling if you ask me. A picture is painted of the way things were in the early 1960s and it could not be more accurate.
I think that most of the controversy originated from the fact that Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga never got the revenge that some cinemagoers were expecting. Green Book is not a story of zeal but that of pacifism. And even if you don't personally agree with the story's message, the excellent job the movie did at presenting their perspective must be appreciated. For I do not believe a movie should be judged in regards to one's own personal prejudice or anecdotal experience.
Mortensen and Ali both played out their characters perfectly, and accompanied by 2019's Best Original Screenplay, the film was already set for big results. I doubt I will forget this wonderful film anytime soon, I would rather remember it as the iconic masterpiece it is. And to the rest of us it can be a reminder that even in 2019, there still are decent and authentic movies being made.