Review of The Butler (2013) by Clarisesamuels — 15 Feb 2014

This movie deserves praise just because Forest Whitaker carries the film so nobly and gracefully in his role of the fictitious butler, Cecil Gaines. It is too bad that the producers saw fit to so drastically change the story of the real-life butler, Eugene Allen, who served in the White House for 34 years until his retirement in 1986. I'm sure his story would have been fascinating enough without trying to fit in the history of the civil rights movement in the background. In any event, the film did not do justice to the long and complicated story of the civil rights movement. I'm not sure any fictional film could do it justice. From 1987 to 1990, PBS broadcast a 14-hour documentary on the civil rights movement, entitled Eyes on the Prize. I would think fourteen hours is the minimum to cover such a complicated and lengthy subject area.

It was interesting to note Robin Williams in the role of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Cusack in the role of Richard Nixon, Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson, and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan (with Jane Fonda as Mrs. Reagan). The make-up and the similarity to the real presidents were remarkable; nevertheless every famous actor was clearly recognizable and there was the risk of the film almost becoming parody. Vanessa Redgrave and Mariah Carey have small roles. Also surprising, Oprah Winfrey, as the wife of Cecil Gaines, making a comeback for the first time in years in a truly dramatic role in a feature film. She is perhaps too famous and too much a familiar face to turn up as a fictional character in a film. When the film did a little montage of television programs to speed up time and show how African-Americans became influential icons of fashion, music, and dance, I almost expected to see a snippet from an Oprah Winfrey show. The real Oprah had to be omitted given the circumstances, but she should have been there.

There were some interesting moments, such as Martin Luther King (Nelsan Ellis) explaining that the role of the black domestic was actually an extremely important role in black American history because of the trust and closeness that developed between white employer and black employee, which in fact went against all racial stereotypes. In the film, King concludes that the role of the black domestic was in fact the role of the subversive, an interesting take on the menial domestic positions blacks were forced into for so many decades.

In spite of the film's flaws, there are not many quality films that give so many black actors such a wonderful opportunity to both strut their stuff and to document black suffering in America at the same time.