Greenbook

My Road Movie: Green Book 

        This American film directed by Peter Farrely came out in 2018 and was a huge success. He won 3 Golden Globes and also 3 Oscars, including those for the best movie, but also many other prizes.

        Greenbook is a movie based on a true story, those of Tony Vallelonga and Don Shirley. Nick Vallelonga is the son of the main characters, Tony Vallelonga and Dolores Vallellonga. He co-wrote his father's story with Brian Hayes and Peter Farrely.

        M.Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen, his a father and a family man with Italian origins. This old bouncer has to find a new job to provide for his family, his wife Dolores and his kids. He finds an opportunity to work as a driver for a mysterious doctor. This doctor, that embodies Mahershala Ali, is actually not a doctor, he is classical and jazz pianist who research a driver and a bodyguard for his concert tour in the United States. But there is a problem, Don Shirley, the pianist, he's a black Jamaican-American man and because this movie set in 1962, racial segregation is still actual. Despite his racist prejudices, M. Vallelonga, also called “ Tony Lip” accept the job. They began together an unusual road trip in the United States for 8 weeks and planned to come back for Christmas Eve.  In the beautiful limousine Tony drive, he found a “Greenbook”. Here simply called Greenbook, The Negro Motorist Green Book is a travel guide (guidebook) written by an African-American postman, Victor H Green which collects all the addresses allowed to the Black population during this time of widespread racial segregation. It is a way for African-American drivers to avoid conflicts.  They are now driving through the Midwest and Deep South of the United State for the concert tour of Dr. Shirley and his trio. At the beginning the protagonists don't have a really good relationship, the boorish and unencumbered but touching and funny Tony Lip initially clashes with the snobbish and pinned down Don. The musician is outraged and shocked by Tony's habits and Tony is bored and fed up of the remarks that the prestigious pianist continually gives him. But , as time goes by, they started to like each other. Doc appreciate the simplicity of his driver. The Italian-American admire the talent and the courage of his boss to live in a society that acclaim and applause him but when he go down of the stage told him that he can't eat in the same restaurant, can't sleep in the same establishment and have to go away to use the toilet.  

        We can qualifies this film as a road movie because we can see and discover the landscapes of the places they traveled in. It permit us to understand the cultural identity of this time period, and thanks to this road movie, we can make our conception of the United States through routes. More especially here, we can identify the different state because during the different legs of the trip we have on the screen a little map that shows how the concert tour evolve. The journey of these two men filled with a lot of music and legs in motels and establishments of all cultures. We also can follow the evolution of these people in the passing time.

        Personally, I simply adore this movie. It reveals thanks to an amazing story how two people of different cultures and colors can face difficulties by helping each other and bringing to the other new qualities by sharing experiences. Even if the family of the pianist protest because they thought it was only the white aspect of the situation that was reveals here, so that the reliability of the original story can be reconsidered it is still an incredible movie. The performance of the actors have to be lauded, this is simply extremely entertaining, moving and thrilling at the same time.  If you haven't already seen it, I barely advise you to immediately watch it!

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