Oscars 2019: 5 Reasons Why Green Book’s Best Picture Win at 91st Academy Awards Isn’t All That Bad!

Hollywood fans and critics can't still get over the fact that Green Book won the Best Picture award at the 91st Academy Awards. Before the event took place, there were heavy bets placed on Alfonso Cuaron's magnificent Roma, Spike Lee's brilliant BlacKkKlansman, Yorgos Lanthimos's grandiose The Favourite or Bradley Cooper's touching A Star is Born. Why, even the highly divisive Bryan Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody or Ryan Coogler's highly enjoyable Black Panther had better stakes. Green Book was expected to win the Best Supporting Actor for Mahersala Ali, and that's it. Instead, it also took Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. Oscars 2019: Twitterati Is ANGRY About Green Book Winning Best Picture Over Roma and BlacKkKlansman at 91st Academy Awards.

There are people who are joking that the Academy has repeated the mistake of accidentally declaring the wrong winner a la Moonlight-La La Land fiasco of 2017 Academy Awards. Truth is, the jury knew what they voted for and whether you like it or not, you have to accept and live with the fact that Green Book is the Best Picture winner. Even if it annoys you to the core. Just like we Indian fans have to live with the fact that Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar won the National Award for the Best Actor for Hum Tum and Rustom respectively.

As someone who loves foreign movies as much as Bollywood, even I was shocked with Green Book's victory more so because it was the last film I expected to win. I had rooted for either Roma, The Favourite and (in my heart) BlacKkKlansman to get the trophy. However, after the internal outrage was calmed and I saw all those negative trolls against the movie, I began to think, are we trolling the film a bit too much? I agree that there were better films worth the honour that Green Book got, but is the movie as bad as many claim it to be? In fact, many critics were even against Green Book getting nominated in the first place.

In my opinion, we are critiquing Green Book a bit too much, for no fault of its. Here are five reasons why I feel Green Book's win didn't deserve the kind of hate that it has been getting since Julia Roberts announced the name.

Green Book is a Good Watch

If someone tells you Green Book is a bad movie, then he or she is looking into it too contextually or hasn't even seen the movie. Green Book isn't a bad movie at all; in fact, it was one of the better dramas of last year. If it was not nominated for the Oscars, I bet the movie would have earned a spot in critics' underrated films list. The direction is decent, the drama is engaging and the performances by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are first-rate. Sure, Green Book is very predictable but its simplistic treatment works for the mainstream audience, who loved the heartwarming tale of friendship by a racist white man and a prejudice-fighting black pianist. Green Book Movie Review: Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali Drive Through Racial Biases in This Endearing Road Trip Dramedy.

There is Longevity for The Film's Repeat Value

As much as I loved Roma when I saw it on Netflix, I would never go for a repeat watch. Green Book is the kind of movie that you can watch again and you won't be disappointed with what you saw. But then that's also true for BlacKkKlansman, and Black Panther or A Star is Born. But for a jury who has to choose to honour a movie that shows white man's continual hate towards his black peers or one where he is shown forging a long-lasting bond with him, we know where the mostly white people-dominated clan will sway. Green Book addresses racism and homosexuality but doesn't get deep into it. The sanitation tactic was criticised but it worked for the family audiences from whom the movie was made.

There is Less Hate For Green Book Overseas Than in the USA

Interestingly, when Green Book was announced as the Best Picture, there were many on social media who actually hailed the nomination. The racial politics behind why Green Book is getting so much hate from critics in the USA (white people making a safe movie about racism) is not something many of the overseas viewers can understand. Which is why Green Book got better reviews and response in India itself.

Some Unfair Hate is For The Director

Some of the tweets I saw from the critics were making jokes on how the Academy Awards chose to reward the director of There's Something About Mary and Shallow Hal with an Oscar. It is unfair to judge a movie by a director's past works, though most of his films, crass comedies that they are, are hits. If past work was an indication to judge a man's entire career, then Lord of the Rings fame Peter Jackson had begun his career with video nasties like Braindead and Bad Taste!

Oscars' Track Record of Making Errr... 'Unusual' Choices

Okay, people! Kindly let me know that if there have been any time when Oscars jury had rewarded a film that got unanimous praise from everyone. Even when they chose for better movies than Green Book, like 2016's Spotlight, the decisions get criticised by well, critics. In short, the Oscar jury mostly never heed to give Best Picture to those ones critics love.

Speaking specifically about 91st Academy Awards, some very worthy and better movies, like Eighth Grade, Hereditary, Wildlife, First Man, weren't even nominated for Best Picture. If the jury had gone for Roma, they would have been accused of following what others do (BAFTA, Golden Globe). Now at least, the jury cannot be accused of being predictable. Wink wink!

In conclusion, like many of you, I am not happy with Green Book getting a Best Picture Academy Award. But I am totally against the perception created by certain people that the Oscars have chosen a really bad movie as the Best Picture, which Green Book isn't!

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2019 08:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).