Lee Daniels’ The Butler is a film that has piqued many peoples’ interests. First off, the film has a who’s who cast of superstars, secondly, the film spans more than 70 years and thirdly, the subject of the film is fascinating, a butler that served seven presidential administrations, living through all of their hell and glory while standing on the sideline, that’s most certainly ripe for a feature.
In Lee Daniels’ The Butler, we follow Cecil Barnes (Forest Whitaker) from childhood in 1926 all the way up to him as an aging old man. Growing up on a plantation run by racist southerners, we follow Cecil as he becomes a house hand, learning to serve people until he eventually escapes the segregated hell of the south and makes his way north. Eventually, while working as a server at an exclusive club, Cecil soon leaves an impression on an important person who recommends he become a butler at The White House. As Cecil begins to witness history by serving some of the most powerful people in the world, we also get to see what his life at home is like with his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) and two sons, one of which is an anti-establishment protester named Louis (David Oyelowo). What starts out as a happy family eventually turns into a fragmented one as Cecil slowly begins to resent Louis while Gloria begins to get lonely and miss her husband who is always working at The White House. The film takes a three pronged approach, focusing on the events at The White House, the events of Barnes family and the events where they all come together.
Directed by the man who brought us Precious, Lee Daniels’ new film is one that will certainly entertain the masses while putting the struggles of the Civil Rights movement front and center. At the same time, his new film will also make you think that all of our 20th century presidents (excluding two that he hilariously skips over entirely) are all comedians and were simply comedic relief for Cecil and us. There are some very odd choices for presidents, some of who do a great job like James Marsden as JFK but then there are others who give off horrible impersonations like John Cusack as an awful Richard Nixon. Thankfully some of the other supporting characters were either great or brought appropriate laughs, most notably Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Terrence Howard.
The Butler is at its best when its focus remains on the father son relationship between Cecil and Louis, utilizing the strong divisions found during the civil rights era as a backdrop for the discontent between the two individuals and their ideology regarding survival. As the film moves on, the distance between the two grows as well, with Cecil being completely fed up with Louis’ political activism, who seems to be throwing away everything his father has worked so hard for him to have all for the sake of a movement that may go nowhere and may lead to his death at any time.
While many might think Cecil’s character was real, he is actually a composite character of multiple stories heard about White House butlers with the main one being based on Eugene Allen from a 2008 Washington Post article “A Butler Well Served by this Election.” This is inspired by one man’s life but it is the compilation of many men but thankfully this film is about the individual and not the presidents. The movie feels like a movement, which at times it is, but at its core this is a film about troubled relationships and understanding who ideologies change with generations.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler is no doubt an entertaining film but I don’t think it’s really much of an Oscar contender as people had originally thought it might be. Forrest Whitaker would be the only serious contender but it is still too early to tell, for now all we can do is enjoy the performances and the story that has been put on the screen in front of us. While half of this film can be bothersome to many due to the inaccurate or poor portrayal of some of our nation’s former leaders, thankfully The Butler achieves telling its human story and making the relationships and family struggle as real, impactful and believable as possible. We get to witness individual struggle amongst an era when mass human struggle was taking place in the 20th Century and, thankfully, that is where Lee Daniels film predominantly succeeds.
Rating: Half the film is touching and great while the other half sacrifices much of its potential for easy laughs (6.3/10)
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