Green Book (2018)

This film is one of those low-budget productions that are filmed with the sole purpose of entertaining, but end up being a box-office hit thanks to the simplicity of its script, written by the son of its inspiration, African-American jazz and classical pianist Don Shirley, who in the 1960s toured the southern United States at a time when racism was rampant.

Nick Vallelonga together with Brian Hayes Currie and Peter Farrelly immortalized this odyssey and gave it the abbreviated title of the tourist guide written by Victor Hugo Green for black tourists, The Negro Motorist Green Book, which indicated the few establishments where African-Americans were accepted.

For the main roles were chosen Mahershala Ali in the role of Don Shirley, who had won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 2016 with the film Moonlight and Viggo Mortensen who plays Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga, chauffeur and bodyguard of the above mentioned, this one with a long career as an actor and director, besides being a musician, poet, photographer and painter.

The story begins when the musician hires Vallelonga, a tough Italian-American from the Bronx, to serve as his chauffeur and bodyguard on a tour that will begin in the Bronx and last several months. They are people who will share long days and whose temperament is completely different, but due to survival and necessity, they adapt to the situation and end up becoming friends.

There is nothing spectacular in the one hundred and thirty minutes that the film lasts, only everyday situations of the time, however the film engages and allows the viewer to identify and be part of the feelings or philosophy of any character, not only the main ones.

A black man playing white people's music and a white man serving a black person is something rare at that time and perhaps that is the secret of why the film captures the interest.

It was directed by Peter Farrelly, who was also part of the screenwriters, who along with his brother Bobby is famous for producing quirky and offensive comedies such as Dumb and Dumber and the cost of the film was only 17 million dollars as opposed to what it grossed at the box office which was close to 250 million.

It also won 3 Oscars and was nominated for 5, the winning categories were Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay, it also won the Golden Globes in the aforementioned categories and many more awards.

Perhaps its most important contribution, besides portraying the history of that time, is to teach us that there are no borders for friendship and that it needs mutual respect to flourish.

I highly recommend it and it is suitable for family viewing.