The Green Book

There have been many very good movies this year and some that were excellent. I enjoyed The Upside. I thought Glenn Close gave a brilliant portrayal in The Wife. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were outstanding in A Star is Born. The always lovable Ryan Gosling did a great turn in First Man. Mary Poppins was fun as was Mama Mia – Here We Go Again and Crazy Rich Asians was, well crazy! I missed some good ones like Bohemian Rhapsody but far and away my favourite for 2018 was The Green Book. I urged anyone who would listen to go and see it. It played for three weeks here in Bracebridge – that’s a long run for our little town.

The Green Book is based on the true story of pianist Dr. Don Shirley who took his trio to do a two month tour in the southern States, The Deep South, as he called it. On the surface of it that is not surprising. What made it surprising is that he was black and it was 1962. He needed a driver and protection and he hired Tony Lip – a tough-talking bouncer from The Bronx. The two were an unlikely pairing and their relationship was prickly and difficult for the first part of their trip. Over time they grew to appreciate each other and they built an unlikely friendship. According to the end notes they remained friends over the decades until their deaths.

There is much about The Green Book to take in. First the title refers to an actual book produced for ‘Negroes’ who needed to find a place to stay as they traveled in the States, especially in areas where they were not welcome. Dr. Shirley ran up against the prejudice and racism of the day and Tony Lip was made aware of the deep divide that separated black and white. As the story unfolded each man developed compassion and appreciation of the other.

There were some great lines in the movie. “Genius is not enough you also have to have courage.” “You never win with violence. You only win when you maintain your dignity.” “You can do better.” “It takes courage to change people’s hearts.” But I think my favourite quote comes late in the movie. Dr. Shirley had mentioned that he has a brother but they are estranged. Tony encourages him to reach out to his brother and Dr. Shirley replies, “He knows where to find me.” Big, rough, gruff Tony replies, “The world is full of lonely people afraid to make the first move.” There is a lot to unpack in that statement.

In January of 2017 Great Britain launched a commission on ways to combat loneliness. Recognizing it as a significant social problem Britain established a Ministry for Loneliness. The research leading up to this showed that more than 9 million people in Britain, around 14% of the population, often or always feel lonely. That is a lot of loneliness. I suspect the statistics are similar in Canada.

There were many social and cultural problems exposed in the movie The Green Book. I was not expecting loneliness to be one of them. It became apparent, as the tale unfolded, that while Dr. Shirley faced many challenges one of the big ones was feeling lonely, feeling like he did not fit in.

I like movies for many reasons, entertainment, education, but also when they leaves me thinking. That is why I liked The Green Book so much. It left me thinking about many things. If you haven’t seen it yet… grab some popcorn and watch it.