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“Goin* to
the Show...”
with...
Roland
Willis
Lee Daniel's The Butler
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey,
David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz,
and Terrence Howard
Directed by Lee Daniels
Written by Danny Strong
Running Time: 2 hour, 12 minutes
Rated PG-13 for racial violence
In spite of this pretentious title, this
is a very ambitious movie featuring
fine performances by Forrest Whita
ker and Oprah Winfrey who needs no
introduction.
This is a fictional biography of Eu
gene Allen who was a butler in the
White House for 34 years under seven
administrations.
In the film, the butler’s name is
Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker). As
a young boy on a cotton plantation
around 1925 outside Macon, Geor
gia, he is taken in by the owner, An-
nabeth Westfall (Vanessa Redgrave)
to become a house servant after her
son, the overseer, has abused Cecil’s
parents.
When Cecil eventually leaves Ma
con to strike out on his own, his train
ing as a servant serves him well and
he is hired by a benevolent, black hotel
manager who teaches him to be an ex
pert bartender and waiter and drums
into him that in a white man’s world
you wear two faces... there is your
waiter’s face where you smile and say,
“Yes, sir. No sir. Three bags full, sir,”
and there is your own face which you
keep for family and friends.
This advice serves him well when
he becomes a waiter in the prestigious
Excelsior Hotel in Washington, D. C.
He is so impressive that he comes
to the attention of the chief of the staff
at the White House and is offered a job
there as a butler.
He must be totally non-political
and is there to serve the president and
his staff and guests. He must be like
the wallpaper in the room. He must
be unnoticed yet cater to their every
culinary need.
While at the Excelsior he meets,
falls in love and marries Gloria (Oprah
Winfrey) and they have two sons, Lou
is (David Oyelowo) and Charlie (Eli
jah Kelly).
He keeps his butler face on at work
but he is his cheerful self with his fam
ily and their friends in a lower middle
class section of Washington and with
his fellow butlers (Cuba Gooding Jr.
and Lenny Kravitz).
Everything is going along well
and he is very proud of the scholas
tic achievements of his son Louis and
his acceptance into Fisk University in
Nashville.
This is the early sixties as the civil
rights movement is starting. Louis
recognizes that something momen
tous is about to happen and he joins
the movement going all the way from
lunch counter sit-ins, freedom bus
rides, Selma, the Rev. Martin Luther
King’s assassination and finally be
comes a Black Panther.
This rebellious route puts Louis at
odds with his father and his belief that
you just put up with things and sur
vive in a white man’s world.
To add insult to injury, Cecil often
sees the Ku Klux Clan attacks, the po
lice beatings, the fire-hosing and the
snarling police dogs on the presidents’
TVs as he is stoically serving them el
egant meals and refreshments.
In this way the director takes us
through the black experience from the
cotton fields to the rebellion leading to
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This is very well done.
The tension is eased along the way
by amusing vignettes of the various
presidents... Eisenhower (Robin Wil
liams), Nixon (John Cusack), Kennedy
(James Marsden), Johnson (Liev Sch-
reiber) and Reagan (Alan Rickman).
Jane Fonda nails Nancy Reagan.
There are two movies I can think of
which have direct bearing on this one.
The Help (2011) depicts the plight
of black housemaids in Mississippi
during the Civil Rights Era. In spite
of essentially raising the children of
their white employers, they were often
treated very badly and very reluctant
ly, with great trepidation gave inter
views for what became a very popular
book and movie.
Viola Davis received an Oscar for
her role as a maid.
The other movie is The Remains of
the Day in which Anthony Hopkins’
wonderful performance as Stevens
the butler, defined that role. He was
the head butler at an English manor
house in the days before World War
II. Leaders of England, Germany and
America met there and the butler be
lieved that his excellent service helped
these important meetings along.
Cecil Gaines never feels this way.
Stevens also had his butler face
on but was so engrossed by his role
in this household that he forgot his
own face and could not change when
approached affectionately by the
housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma
Thompson).
Cecil was always able to switch
back at the end of his shift.
Having received an Oscar for The
Last King of Scotland and having
given an outstanding performance in
The Crying Game, it is no surprise
September 2, 2013, The Islander, Page 7
that Forest Whitaker is great as the
butler. It is a surprise, however, that
Oprah gives such a fine performance
as the long suffering wife and mother.
She really can act.
This is a bold, ambitious film by
director Lee Daniels and its suc
cess owes much to the writer Danny
Strong.
As historical fiction this film could
have been more entertaining. The sto
ic face of the butler in the presidents’
office becomes tedious. I wanted to
shout, “ Let’s hear more from the pres
idents and their advisors as momen
tous decisions are being made.”
Cecil’s younger son, Charlie, is
used to highlight the conflict in the
black society over the struggle for civil
rights. He wants nothing to do with it.
He just wants to fight for his country
and dies in Vietnam.
This story took little courage to tell.
The story that really needs to be told
is that of the black experience in Viet
nam. Will anyone have the courage to
do this?
Anyway, I recommend this movie.
My rating is B+ □
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