8 Years Later, Netflix's Controversial Best Picture Winner Is a Streaming Hit

The Academy Awards have undergone drastic changes in the last 10 years, a product of their increased and diversified voting body that includes more young, female, and international members. This alteration of the Academy's landscape has been demonstrated by the movies they've honored in the coveted Best Picture category, which has featured unconventional winners like Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Anora — indie and mid-budget productions about people and stories marginalized in mainstream cinema.

In the big picture of the Oscars, Green Book is a familiar kind of Best Picture winner, but when compared to its era, Peter Farrelly's biographical dramedy about a working-class Italian-American transporting an African-American pianist through the segregated South in the 1960s sticks out like a sore thumb. Even worse, its simplistic portrait of race relations and reliance on white savior tropes have left a bad taste in the mouth of many viewers.

'Green Book' Winning Best Picture Was a Huge Step Back for the Academy

The 91st Academy Awards, held on February 24, 2019, had the distinction of being the first ceremony without a dedicated host in 30 years, and the peculiarity of the telecast was matched by its Best Picture outcome, which saw Green Book defeating audience favorites like A Star is Born, Black Panther, and the prohibitive favorite, Roma. The film won two additional Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay for Nick Vallelonga, the real-life son of the film's protagonist, Tony "Lip" Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen in the movie, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali for his performance as Don Shirley, winning his second statuette in three years.

Green Book's win felt like a retrograde decision by the Academy, which, two years prior, broke new ground by handing Best Picture to Moonlight, a nuanced portrait of race and identity starring an all-Black cast and directed by a Black filmmaker. The award felt especially ironic considering that, earlier in the ceremony, Spike Lee (who later quipped that Green Book "wasn't my cup of tea") won his long-overdue first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman. Before the ceremony, the film, as is customary during awards season, faced a slew of controversies, relating to the lack of participation from the Shirley family, a misleading portrait of Tony Lip and Shirley's relationship, and unearthed Islamophobic tweets by Nick Vallelonga.

'Green Book' Has an Incredibly Complicated Legacy

Even separate from the historical baggage, Green Book faced criticism for deploying the white savior and "magical Negro" archetypes that were egregiously out of style in 2018. Similar to a fellow controversial Best Picture winner dealing with broad cultural issues, Crash, Green Book upset many critics by treating itself as if it "solved racism," as the primary arc of the film sees Tony, who comes from a bigoted Bronx neighborhood, learning to accept and welcome Don after protecting him through the discrimination of the deep South. The film registered as phony, self-indulgent, and even tasteless to many, as it prefers to pat white America on the back for learning about human decency rather than frame the story from the perspective of the Black person (Ali being nominated in the Supporting category at the Oscars is another damming sign).

Having said all that, there's a reason Green Book was admired by awards-season voters: it finds ways to charm even the most skeptical viewers in spurts. Viggo Mortensen — who was nominated for Best Actor — and Mahershala Ali give wonderfully charming and heartfelt performances, and their chemistry is the driving force behind the film's odd-couple dynamic between a rugged, streetwise chauffeur/personal assistant and a high-class, delicate classical musician. Ali, in particular, is a force of nature who is in complete control of Don Shirley's steely gravitas and suppressed angst. Whenever the film avoids direct conversations about the sobering realities of the segregated South, it thrives as a light road-trip comedy. Peter Farrelly's background as a comedy director, with his brother Bobby Farrelly, heightens the farce of the duo's fish-out-of-water status and Tony's gluttonous diet. You could do a lot worse than experiencing the fun hangout vibes of Green Book.

The complicated legacy of Green Book resembles a recurring balancing act we often face when engaging with art and media. Separating the art from a problematic artist is a process that must be learned, as creative figures in Hollywood are hardly perfect. With this misbegotten Best Picture winner, the baggage is too intertwined with the text to ignore, but for some, it's all background noise for this wholesome, charming dramedy about bonding and growth.