Green Book (2018)
Film details
Drama · Comedy · History · Peter Farrelly · 2h 10min
Synopsis
Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Verdict
Homosexual character presented naturally in a story about friendship and racism.
In-depth analysis
The film introduces a homosexual character (Don Shirley) whose orientation is revealed in a scene where he is arrested at the YMCA. Although the work does not celebrate this in an activist manner and the script maintains a certain discretion characteristic of the 1960s, the presence of the character and his sexual orientation are part of the narrative without question. This constitutes normalization through naturalization: the viewer must accept it as a neutral given in order to follow the story of friendship.
That said, the film possesses genuine narrative virtues. The friendship between Tony and Don is genuine and demonstrates mutual growth: Tony learns to see beyond his racial prejudices, and Don learns to connect with humanity beyond his isolated refinement. The script avoids cheap sentimentality and builds the transformation through concrete scenes. The denunciation of racism is honest and not propagandistic.
For parents: the artistic quality and the anti-racist message do not negate the underlying alert. A work can possess virtues and simultaneously introduce content that requires critical discernment.