Bad call on ‘worst’ best film says Lee

THE CHOICE as best film of Green

Book – a drama about racial segregation told from a white perspective – proved controversial.

Spike Lee, who won the best adapted screenplay award for

BlacKkKlansman, which tackles a similar issue from the reverse viewpoint, said “the ref made bad call” on the subject.

Green Book has been dogged by controversy, and its handling of race has been criticised as belonging to the “white saviour” Hollywood trope.

When Julia Roberts announced it had won, Lee was seen to leave his seat in what many interpreted as a show of disapproval. Within minutes, critics online had savaged the decision, with one branding it the worst “best” film since Crash in 2006.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had been at pains to draw up a diverse shortlist, and the awards for best supporting actor and actress both went to non-white performers – Mahershala Ali and Regina King. Ali played musician Don Shirley in Green Book, which was based on a true story about a concert tour through the southern states in the 1960s. Shirley’s family was reported to be unhappy with the portrayal.

Ms King was the first winner of the night for If Beale Street Could

Talk, a film about the struggles of a pregnant African-American woman when her partner is falsely accused of rape. She praised the “Me Too” movement for helping women “find their voice”.