The Green Book

This movie has not been released in the UK yet. It will be released in early February of 2019 and will premier towards the end of this month.

This means that I can't write in my normal way as I will spoil the entire movie for most readers.

The Green Book is about a musician called Don Shirley. Most of us haven't heard of this man because his music was a bit different. He was a pianist, a black pianist who trained in Russia and was performing during the heavily racist period of the world's history. Black people, at this period in time, were going to get in to trouble for performing classical music in predominantly white places. Therefore, his record label made him part of a trio and they improvised classical styles of music. His style is classical but with some elements of Jazz in it.

Orpheus in the Underworld is probably his most known work and it is, well, different. The foundation is very classical but it never entirely sounds like a classical masterpiece. It is different and does require your full attention when listening to it in order to truly appreciate the craft behind it.

So what can we tell you about Don Shirley? He was a doctor. He had two doctorates in various studies and was a fabulous pianist in every way. He was well spoken, made acquaintances with a lot of high up people, people close to the president and had high up mannerisms that were seen as a little uncharacteristic. The teachings of etiquette were fantastic in this movie and Don Shirley, according to the movie, had similar mannerisms to myself, which I appreciate.


Don Shirley, in this movie is played by the rising star Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Luke Cage, Hidden Figures) and is a man of many secrets. Opposite him is Viggo Mortensen (A History of violence, Captain Fantastic, The Lord of the Rings) playing an American Italian, (think of De Niro) known for his ability to talk people in to things and for his muscle. Usually used as muscle, he turns in to a driver for this one gig, one tour of the slightly more racist parts of America. Apart from getting paid, he learns to expand his taste in music, speak better, write better and learns a few things about mannerism and friendship.

This movie has many fantastic moments and I can see it winning all the awards possible. The music is fantastic, the speech, at times, is hilarious and some of the most powerful moments are, of course, towards the end, moments that make you want to rise up out of your chair and put your fist in the air. Someone of my generation, with my upbringing, wants to shout at the screen and ask the racist people why they are so racist, why they treat performers in such a way. There was nothing to be afraid of but they never learned that.

Seriously, if this movie does not pick up more than one award at every ceremony then there is something wrong with the judges. Watch this movie and learn from it. You can receive a musical education from this movie, even if you are a trained musician and think that you already know most things about music. You can also learn a lot about yourself from watching this movie.


For those who aren't sure and haven't seen the trailer, it is listed below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZxoko_HC0