LEE DANIEL'S THE BUTLER

LEE DANIEL’S THE BUTLER Review

By Darin Skaggs

     In Forrest Gump the title character meets the President of the United States, fights in Vietnam, and helps the first African American students that attend a whites only campus, makes a speech at Washington DC, wins a ping pong competition, goes on the Johnny Carson show and starts his own fast food chain.  This is supposed to be an exploration of our countries history told through this simple man.  He does so much that it feels ridiculous.  In Lee Daniel’s new film Lee Daniel’s The Butler, those very themes are also explored which makes the film just as ridiculous.

     Forrest Whitaker plays said butler, Cecil Gains.  He starts as a child who is a slave and when his father is killed becomes a house slave.  He leaves to start a life in the north as a hotel clerk.  He marries Gloria, played by Oprah Winfrey in a mediocre performance.  At one point he gets a call from the White House and ends up getting a job there.  There he serves through several presidents including Kennedy and Reagan while inspiring all of them to make their most important speeches.  At the same time his eldest son is protesting in every major event in the civil rights movement.

     The theme of the film is exploring our nation’s history, specifically the civil rights history.  This film is based on a true story though it seems to be all coincidence in what happens.  Every single President asks Cecil a question about race rights, which leads them to make a speech about the race issues.  Meanwhile, his son is a protestor for the race rights and happens to be at every big rally and moment that is well remembered in our history including being with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panther party.

     They also decide, not sure if this is based off fact or not, to make Cecil’s life at the White House near perfect and the life at his own house very flawed.  There is rarely a moment where he is happy at home in fact. 

     The film’s obsession with showing us everything about our nation’s history with race is that the story begins with Cecil as a young slave and ends with him seeing Obama being elected as the first African American President.  Again, maybe the math is off but that seems like an impossibility.  Would he be too old? Oh well, the film shoves down our throat about race, which is important, but better films have come out about it.  The butler is filled with good performances for the most part as each President comes and goes you will want to know which actor is playing who, but that’s the only interest you’ll have in the film and will most likely fade away after viewing it.