“Green Book” has won the Oscar for best picture at the 91st Academy Awards, defeating strong competition from “Roma,” “A Star is Born” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The film tells the story of a working class Italian-American bouncer who is employed as the driver of an African American classical pianist on a tour of venues in the South during the ’60s.
“The story is about love,” Peter Farrelly, producer on the film, said during his acceptance speech.
“Green Book,” which received a total of five Oscar nominations, won three, including best picture. Mahershala Ali took home the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as Dr. Don Shirley, the pianist, in the film and Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga and Brian Currie won for best original screenplay.
“Green Book” was directed by Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber To”) and earned $128.9 million at the worldwide box office, according to Comscore.
Prior to the Oscar win, “Green Book” took home awards for best picture (musical or comedy) at the Golden Globes and a People’s Choice award at the Toronto film festival.
In the weeks ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, “Green Book” found itself at the center of a surge of criticism after co-writer and producer Vallenlonga apologized for an anti-Muslim tweet and director Farrelly apologized following accusations of serial sexual misconduct.
In addition, the family of Dr. Don Shirley strongly denied the close personal friendship between Shirley and Viggo Mortensen’s character Tony Vallelonga, who is based on writer Vallenlonga’s father.
The Oscar win wasn’t well received by some, who have long condemned “Green Book” for perpetrating a “white savior” narrative, the notion that people of color can only succeed if a white person blazes the trail for them.
Even in early viewings of the film critics disparaged it for having a number of racial cliches, including a scene in which Tony convinces Shirley to try fried chicken.
“There is virtually no milestone in this tale of interracial male friendship that you won’t see coming from a long way off, including scenes that seem too corny or misguided for any movie in its right mind to contemplate,” the New York Times wrote in its review of the film.
Disclosure: “Green Book” was distributed by NBC Universal, the parent company of CNBC.
