4 Stars
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is a film that highlights important historical moments during the civil rights movement and calls into question both the United States’ governmental role in reaching racial equality as well as the public’s ability to implement change. Though the themes addressed in “The Butler” are themes common in countless films based in the same era, “The Butler” is unprecedented.
Trained early on as a “house nigger” in the 1920s, Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) perfected an apolitical and hardworking persona that enabled him to be requested as a butler in the White House. Serving eight presidents, Gaines struggles to maintain a life that is economically comfortable yet devoid of opinion on the massive political changes taking place in the United States.
Gaines’ wife, Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), is a complicated character — worried about her sons who find themselves drawn to dangerous life pursuits (civil rights activism and the military) and perpetually lonely while her husband spends all of his time at the White House. Winfrey is destined for an Oscar nomination for her spectacular work. After the initial excitement of seeing Winfrey on the big screen for the first time since her role in the 1998 “Beloved,” it was easy to get lost in Gloria’s character. Winfrey’s presence is never a distraction; instead, it’s a constant satisfaction.
“Forrest Gump”-like at times, “The Butler” mentions, reenacts, or shows footage of major events from the civil rights movement. This familiar approach proves once again to be successful. As Gaines serves in the White House, he watches news reports of his son’s arrest for participating in the Woolworth’s Sit-In and Montgomery Bus Boycott. Minutes before Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, we hear him speaking to Gaines’ son in the infamous Memphis motel room. When JFK is assassinated, Gaines watches and tries to help a blood stained and tearful Jackie Kennedy. The film takes the events we’re all familiar with and amplifies them emotionally.
Though the main characters in “The Butler” shine, the casting for the presidents is, at times, strange. When Robin Williams is shown in the Oval Office portraying Dwight D. Eisenhower, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or just go with it. John Cusack as Richard Nixon was perhaps as uncomfortable as the Nixon administration, and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan was outright giggle-inducing.
“The Butler” is an incredible story that questions the definition of true civil service and justice. Over the top at times and awkward at others, overall, it will go down in history as nothing short of an American classic.
— Tess Boyle
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