Brian Viner stated in his review, “The Butler is not among them, but in a scene set in 1967 it does reference one: Norman Jewison’s classic In The Heat Of The Night, which starred Sidney Poitier, is used in The Butler to preface an argument between an African-American father and son over whether Poitier should be regarded as a hero or a traitor to ‘his people’.”
Viner rebuttals his statement with this: “Actually, Poitier was raised in the Bahamas, then a British crown colony, but we’ll let that pass.” The father, who considers him the pride of black America, is Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), constantly is arguing with this activist son, Louis (David Oyelowo).
We see that Cecil was born to serve. He grew up in the Twenties as little more than a slave in rural Georgia by picking cotton, where his mother (pop singer Mariah Carey) was raped, and his father (rapper David Banner) murdered, by their white employer (Alex Pettyfer).
Still Cecil believed that whites were naturally superior to blacks. Viner said, “He left Georgia, wound up in Washington DC, and having mastered the art of white-gloved service, was talent-spotted working in a swanky hotel and offered a job at the White House.”
In the White House, he serves seven presidents, from Eisenhower to Reagan. Obviously, this matched with the raging civil rights years, and the breaking his own relationship with the increasingly radical Louis.
However, Cecil gradually realizes that Louis’ brutal activism, rather than his own noble agreement, might have been the better route. Prepared to accept, father and son watch President Barack Obama’s election-night victory speech. “Yes we can,” says President Obama, as the credits and the tears roll.
The story, by Danny Strong, directed by Lee Daniels, is loosely based on a real man called Eugene Allen. This has been given a rather exaggeratedly generous dashing, as if by a nervous butler, of dramatic license.
Viner does note that, “Not historic licence, though. No, every major development in the civil rights story is ticked off, either with Cecil gliding into the Oval Office at a pivotal moment — what you might call the Forrest Gumping of Forest Whitaker — or with Louis finding himself in the right place at the wrong time.”
One minute he’s running away from the assassination of Malcolm X, the next he’s sitting in a Memphis motel room talking to Martin Luther King, played by Nelsan Ellis, just before King is shot. First, he’s a freedom rider. Then he’s a Black Panther. This is one person who was very involved during this horrible time in the nation’s history.
“The Butler” is not well-served by its own ambition. Viner stated, “Such is the sweep of years that the fine actors playing the various presidents are forced into parodies rather than performances.”
Lyndon Johnson, played by Liev Schrieber, yells orders from the bathroom. Richard Nixon, played by the great John Cusack, sweats a lot. Ronald Reagan, played by Alan Rickman, is a bit dim. Finally, the late Robin Williams, who is fixed up as Dwight D. Eisenhower, “would have worked better if he wasn’t such a dead ringer for Harry S. Truman,” said Viner.
Still, what makes this film worth seeing, above everything else, is the remarkable, A-list cast. Not one great acting family is represented by two (fitness instructor Jane Fonda as a bit-too-beautiful Nancy Reagan, and Vanessa Redgrave as the southern matriarch who gives Cecil his start as a house boy when he was a child).
At the top of it all, along with the always-fascinating Whitaker, is Oprah Winfrey as Cecil’s long-suffering, most loyal wife Gloria.
Viner did say, “The irony of one of America’s most powerful women playing a jaded, disenfranchised housewife is overcome by the sheer charisma of her performance, surely the stuff of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.” Definitely see it for the amazing star quality, not the cheap story.
Look out next week for the finale of this year’s “Black History Month Movie Reviews.”
No comments:
Post a Comment