Paul and I recently headed to the VIP theatre to take in the Butler. I was looking froward to seeing a rare summer movie that didn't involved super heroes, fecal jokes, aliens, or groups of friends waking up in Vegas. We both loved the film but came away with a good deal of white person's guilt - unusual given that we were not alive when the events depicted in the film were taking place (particularly Paolo), we have never been to the south, and well, we are Canadian where things were different.
The movie, which opened on August 16, is based on the real story of Eugene Allen (in the film his name is Cecil Gaines and he is portrayed by Forest Whitaker), who served as a White House butler from 1952 to 1986, a tumultuous period of race relations in America. The film follows Gaines from his childhood on a Georgia cotton farm through his relationships with Presidents Eisenhower, through Reagan. Over the course of the film, we see Gaines standing in the Oval Office as Eisenhower debates sending the National Guard into Little Rock, Arkansas, to allow African-American students to walk in the door of their high school and as President Reagan argues with members of Congress about support for South Africa during apartheid.
Many have howled with outrage over the fact that the film is very loosely based upon a true story (both men were butlers, black, worked at the White House, and born in the south). We hadn't read the back story but when the one son just happened to be about every major Civil Rights battle in a prominent role we started to get suspicious. Others have howled at the casting - Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan???? The challenge with shooting a movie that arcs through history is that the viewers know what the various characters are supposed to look like. Lee Daniels doesn't try to have his actors look like the famous folks, rather he encourages they to act like them - and in most cases they get this down.
I think that the point of the film is not to be a historical accurate tale but a depiction of the perspectives of black people over the decades of the 20th century, not to be a history channel documentary of all the presidents. In fact, the presidents are minimal characters.
Parallel to Cecil Gaines’s story is the story of his son, Louis (David Oyelowo), who joins the civil rights movement when he goes away to college, participates in the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In in 1960 and, in the sixties, segues into the black power movement. While Cecil has been taught not to speak out or talk about politics, Louis sees no other choice but to speak out loud and to protest. The film juxtaposes the refined state dinners, august halls, and polished silver of the White House with the gritty reality of the segregated South and the struggle for civil rights. To highlight the tension between the two worlds, Daniels filmed the scenes in the White House and the scenes of Louis and the Gaines family with different tones, color palettes, cameras, and lenses.
Overall, with its own share of strong drama and some humor, The Butler impresses but does not overwhelm; it may fail expectations but does not really disappoint. It's good but not great, though it is definitely worth-seeing. With effective lead actors, a star-spangled cast and a significant plot, who knows, the film may earn some nods at the Oscars.
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