The Butler 2013
Earlier in the week I watched The Imitation Game and now The Butler, another movie I bought blind (but on a good sale), both highly fictionalized stories about actual people. The Butler doesn’t even try to be that realistic, merely “inspired by a true story,” even changing the name of its main character. It is a little like Forrest Gump where an unassuming guy finds himself and his family involved in entirely too many big moments in history complete with dopey southern-accented narration by the main character. For Cecil Gaines, the title character played by Forest Whitaker, that mostly involves meeting with presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan, with at least a few asking what he thinks about civil rights issues. As someone who tries to be a part of the background, Cecil does not want to stick his head up, while his son is a firebrand, sitting in at southern diners, riding freedom buses, and even joining the Black Panthers, spending quite a bit of time in jail for civil disobedience. Cecil’s wife is played by Oprah Winfrey who turns in a great performance as an alcoholic frustrated by Cecil’s long hours at the White House.
I knew the movie would just be a series of scenes throughout the main character’s life and I also knew a lot of it was fiction, but that somehow still makes for a satisfying movie, providing insight into that generation of people who were victims of a system stacked strongly against them and seeing all the cameos by famous people (often played by famous actors). Cecil is visited by more than his share of horror early on, but things like wage inequality affect him for most of a very long career. And he also sees great successes like the president enforcing desegregation with military force, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and, long after he retires, the election of Barack Obama. It is very satisfying to watch and pat ourselves on the back for how far we have come, even though there are still a lot of issues out there. The acting performances are generally good, but the material doesn’t really sizzle and because so much of the story is fabricated it is hard to take it completely seriously. Still, except for some violence at the beginning, it is mostly fun to watch and should keep anyone’s interest.
Written: 19 Mar 2017
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital