'Green Book' wins best picture in shock finale

The Academy Awards - arguably the highest honors in the movie industry - were handed out on Sunday Feb 24 in Hollywood. It was a night of firsts for many of the Oscar winners and for the categories in which they won.'Green Book' was named Best Picture in a surprise victory over Netflix's 'Roma', during a ceremony filled with diversity, historic wins and a lack of a host.

The feel-good comedy drama, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen and directed by Peter Farrelly, had been followed by problems during awards season, and some people have questioned the veracity of its supposed true story, about the friendship between pianist Don Shirley and his chauffeur Tony Lip.

The film also took home two other statuettes - Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Ali.Based on a real-life road trip through the deep south in the early 1960s, the victory of 'Green Book' victory proved a considerable upset at the awards, after a night largely marked by predictability.

Named after the motoring handbook originally designed to help African American travellers avoid dangerous areas in the pre-civil rights US, Green Book is the story of black concert pianist Don Shirley and his Italian-American bodyguard/driver Tony Vallelonga, AKA Tony Lip. It is directed by Peter Farelly, and stars Viggo Mortensen as Vallelonga and Mahershala Ali as Shirley.

Prior to the Oscars, Green Book won a string of high-profile awards, including best picture (musical or comedy) at the Golden Globes, and the influential People's Choice award at the Toronto film festival.