“THE BUTLER” My rating: B- (Opening wide on Aug. 16)
132 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
I’m not a huge fan of Lee Daniels (“Precious,” “The Paperboy”) or of his new film “The Butler.”
But I think I understand what he’s trying to do with this multi-decade story about a poor black man from the South who becomes a member of the White House staff, serving presidents and eavesdropping on America’s movers and shakers.
And I think he got the job done.
One of the drawbacks of better race relations in this country (which is not to say that everything’s fine…check out the Missouri State Fair rodeo clown controversy) is that we now have a generation of young black people who want nothing to do with America’s troubled racial past.
They are embarrassed by the very mention of slavery and tend to take for granted the civil rights they enjoy, with little appreciation of the generation of activists whose sacrifices made those advancements possible.
“The Butler,” I think, is aimed directly at this indifferent audience and seems to have been fashioned specifically to bring them up to speed, to force them to confront the bad old days of their grandparents.
It’s not a particularly artful film (despite a couple of fine performances) and is frequently downright clumsy. But it succeeds in bringing to life the arc of 20th century African American history in an accessible and dramatic manner.
Inspired by the life of Eugene Allen (1919-2010)– who worked for 34 years in the White House, rising through the ranks to become maître d’hotel (top butler) — Danny Strong’s screenplay is the fictional story of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker).
Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker
Early on Strong and Daniels lay things on with a trowel. One of the film’s first images is of two black men dangling from nooses. Then we’re back in the 1920s in a Southern cotton field where young Cecil witnesses his mother (Mariah Carey) being sexually abused by the landowner’s swaggering son. When her husband objects to this outrage, he is shot dead.
Shades of “Mandingo.”
The lady of the plantation (Vanessa Redgrave, the first of an endless stream of big-name actors making cameo appearances) takes pity on young Cecil and declares she’ll make him a “house nigger.” Under her training he becomes an ideal servant, finally taking off on his own to launch a career first at a Southern hotel, then at one in Washington D.C. That’s where he’s spotted and invited to work at the White House.
“The Butler” attempts to balance Cecil’s private life against the era’s burning social issues. Much of the tension comes from his belief, drilled into him, that a good butler should never make his presence known unless directly addressed by those he is serving. Cecil believes in hard work and personal advancement. He is decidedly uncomfortable with questions of politics or public policy, which leads to decades of tension with his activist son Louis (David Oyelowo) and charges of Uncle Tom-ism.
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Butler's Cinema Scene 