The movie’s awards strategist, Tony Angelotti, was all smiles when I found him at the Governors Ball. “You’re always shocked when your movie’s named best picture, and I’ve had the luxury of working on a few,” he said, citing “The English Patient,” among other films. “That was supposed to win, and when they said the name, I was still shocked, because I’ve seen it go sideways so many times.”

Most pundits, myself included, predicted the Netflix film “Roma” might take the top prize, and while it did collect trophies for director, cinematography and foreign-language film, many in the industry — including Steven Spielberg, who helped champion “Green Book” — resisted the notion of awarding best picture to a streaming service. As I spoke to Angelotti, one nearby well-wisher shouted, “Theatrical distribution lives!”

But the win for “Green Book” was not without its own controversies: The makers of the film have spent most of this season on the defense. The star Viggo Mortensen issued a statement after he used a racial epithet at a Q. and A., while Nick Vallelonga, a screenwriter, deleted his Twitter account after an old tweet surfaced that disparaged Muslims. Family members of the pianist Don Shirley, played by Ali in the film, have also criticized “Green Book” for misrepresenting the man’s life.

“There’s been a lot of slings and arrows,” one of the film’s executive producers, John Sloss, admitted at the Governors Ball. “And yet the intention of making this film was very straightforward, from a group of decent people. As a very smart man once said to me, ‘The only people who like “Green Book” are the audience.’”

“Was it Spielberg who said that?” I asked him.

Sloss laughed. “Among others.”

Though some will be vexed that the same academy that rewarded “Moonlight” two years ago has now given its top prize to the far more conventional “Green Book,” that, too, is the nature of the Oscars. This is a show through which we can examine not just the state of Hollywood but also figure out where we’re at as a culture, and what we glean from the mirror it holds up can be frustrating and illuminating all at once.

Just look at Hannah Beachler, who won the production design Oscar for “Black Panther,” and Ruth E. Carter, who earned the Oscar for the film’s costumes. It was a highlight to see these women of color take the stage, and sobering to realize that they are two of only three black women who have ever won an Oscar in a category other than acting.