Amoving rendition of Shallow. A long-deserved recognition for Spike Lee. A pleasantly surprising Best Actress award for Olivia Colman. And yet, the 91st Academy Awards will be remembered for its astonishing choice for Best Film.Reportedly, it was all Spike Lee could do to not storm out of the venue upon hearing that Green Book was chosen, quite shockingly, for the Best Film Oscar. Two years ago too, it was a bit of a shock when Moonlight beat La La Land, but that was all for the right reasons.
It isn’t hard to see why Spike Lee, much admired for his empowering portrayal of black America in his films, got ticked off. Barely less than an hour ago, he had had much cause for rejoicing after securing his long-deserved first Oscar (Best Adapted Screenplay) for his wildly entertaining BlacKkKlansman which pulls no punches in its takedown of white supremacy.
The film’s about a black policeman who tries to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, and is every bit the entertaining and bitingly provocative film its premise promises to be. When Lee won his first-ever Oscar, it seemed like, host or no host, this was going to be a memorable year. As Lee took to the stage with unbridled joy and delivered a speech in which he touched on slavery, natives, and the upcoming elections, he must not have known how much rage he was to feel barely an hour later.
He must have thought his chances rather bright of securing a Best Director or a Best Film win. Losing the Best Director Oscar to Alfonso Cuaron for Roma must not have been a big blow. Roma, after all, does its bit to further the cause of the indigenous. But when the final Oscar — for Best Film - went to Green Book (not Roma, not lacKkKlansman, not Black Panther, not The Favourite, not even A Star is Born), my own rage was a bit of an indicator of what Spike Lee must have been feeling.
It isn’t so much over BlacKkKlansman not winning it, as much it is about Green Book winning it. Peter Farrelly’s film is the sort of safe take, the sort of white saviour narrative we have traditionally been forced to tolerate. It’s a film about a racist world, about a friendship between a successful, yet trampled black pianist and his racist white driver. Infuriatingly, it’s a story that’s at all times cautious not to place the black man above the evidently racist white man.
It’s a film that goes to great lengths to make the white man deserving of your empathy. The role of the white man (Viggo Mortensen) even got the Best Actor nomination, while Mahershala Ali got the Best Supporting Actor nod (which he deservedly won), showing who the film’s keener to prioritise. Apparently, we still can’t move past being proud of mushy, tentative takes on racism centred on the white male, and crafted to humanise them. Two years after bravely rewarding Moonlight over La La Land for the former’s unflinching, gut-wrenching take on black masculinity, the Academy has taken several leaps back.
And to think it all began so well when Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, and Maya Rudolph showed the Academy why the Oscars desperately needed a host. If this was a year, an opportunity, to see if the function could do away with a host, we have the answer: A resounding no. A large part of the evening involved predictable thank you speeches, with the occasional bright spot that made waking up at dawn — if you’re in India — not such a miserable idea.
Spike Lee leaping into the arms of a thrilled Samuel Jackson was heartwarming to behold. Lady Gaga (who won the Oscar for Best Original Song) being moved to tears in seeming relief that for once, it wasn’t at the Grammy’s, was endearing. Even better was when she and Bradley Cooper lost themselves in a rendition of Shallow. Best of all though was Olivia Colman’s winning speech (she won the Best Actress Oscar), which burst with offhanded honesty.
“This is genuinely stressful,” she opened, and followed it up with, “This is hilarious — I’ve got an Oscar!” Somewhere in between, she sneaked in self-deprecating Brit humour too: “This is not going to happen again.” Her speech — and the Academy’s choice to pick her, despite the pressure to cap Glenn Close’s previous seven failed to Oscar nominations with a win — was the evening’s zenith. Who knew then that an award later, the event would hit its nadir.